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THE CATHOLIC TIMES Published Every Week by The Catholic Times, Inc. Columbus, Ohio NOTICE: Send All Changes ot Address to P. O. 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 O Box 636, Columbus 16. Ohio Price of The Catholic Timee i» fS per year. All ruhscnptione should be presented to our office through .«■ pastors of the parishes. Remittances should be made payable to The Cath olic Timet Anonymous communications will be disregarded. W do not hold ourselves responsible for any views or opinions expressed in the communications of our corresponded! ts. Entered as Second Class Matter at Poet Office Columbus. Ohio. St. Francis de Sales, Patron of the Catholic Press and of the Diocese of Columbus, Pray for Us I This Paper Printed by Union Labor Mary’s Immaculate Heart Today s new Fea,st of the Immaculate Heart of Mary grows increasingly popular as her clients become more and more aware of the significance cf her apparitions at Fatima in 1917. The Holy Fath er's recent consecration of the people of Russia to' Mary under this title also emphasized the request of Our Lady that the whole world be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. The memorable promise she made at Fatima to help those who keep the five first Saturdays is becoming more and more known and practiced. In 1945 the Pope established tomrrow s feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Howe er, consecration to Mary under this title, deserves a little thought. First of all, there is the word, “immaculate.” This recalls to a sinful world that Mary was entirely free from al! sin and attach ment thereto. Mary’s spotless purity is an example to all men, commanding the respect and reverence even of the unbelieving. This sinlessness of Our Lady is a rebuke to a world which knows sin too well by experience Mary's heart is one full of love for her children She loves us, impossible as it may seem, even more than our earthly mother. She loves us for the sake of her Divine Son: she wants us for Him. She strives to pour out her love on us, hoping thereby to win us for Him. Hers is the heart of a mother, a sorrowing mother, praying that her wayward chil dren will come back to the consolation of her love and that ot her Divine Son. It is little wonder, considering the extent to which sinful men have turned their backs upon God, that Mary asks all of us in this age of hatred and wars to forget it all wholeheartedly consecrat ing ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. Why Mother Leaves Home Politicians will m.xe a lot of statements during the coming weeks about the economic situation in this fair land of ours We will be told that there is no higher standard ot living in the world. We will also be told that the country is in a bad condition and needs a doctor Ganted that there is much to be said on each side it might be well to call at tension of the office-seekers to the fact that there is something wrong with Americas economic sit uation One of the country’s great evils is the break down of home life That there is great juvenile de linquency is not without reason Hou could it be otherwise with husbands and wives turning so fie quently to divorce to solve problems many of which have come about because of an economic situation? Probably at no other time in our history do we find so many mothers and wives leaving their homes for regular employment. Home after home finds father and mother away through the day, with the chil dren shifting for themselves, or entrusted to grand mother or an aged relative. The mother’s care and love are not there. The home does not give evidence of the quiet and considerate mother’s care. Why, then do so many wives and mothers seek employment0 The answer is simple. They feel they must do so in order to be able to bolster up their husband s salary to the point where they can afford to feed their children and provide the ordinary com forts of American living Americans do not want to go backward in their standard of living. Rather than do that increasing numbers of housewives are seek ing part or full lime employment The high cost of living is the cause poorly trained children, ju venile delinquency, and estranged husbands and wives is the result It is little wonder that mothers long for school to reopen. They will then know that for most of the day, at least, their children will he off the streets and in good hands. Would that the politicians could do something to put mothers back in their homes where alone they arc most queenly and lovable. Perhaps a campaign is needed to glamorize that sublime vocation, the one so many women refer to humbly when they say they are just a house wife.” Political I ’lai forms 11 is quite true that Americans understand and accept their great political battles and take them in stride every four years. The presidential campaigns have become something of a groat national pastime, and are considerably misunderstood abroad But Americans seem to know that all the fervent things said at conventions and during the weeks preceding election day arc always to he taken with a pretty big grain of salt Take the party platforms, for instance. Those adopted at Chicago, and the more recent ones adopted by both parties in their Ohio conventions, take the usual form Voters know hy this time that platforms are a sort of enticement a kind of bait with which to catch them Hence, they are wary of them And they are right Even the candidates and party bosses know, if they will only admit it, that the platforms are pul together with the voter in mind Anything that might tend to scare away a vote, 1s carefully eschewed in the platform. Ixiok at the way the civil rights planks and the FEPC planks were watered down hy one or both parties, each hnninc by their stand to obtain the greater num ber of voters it ''ould seem that voters seeing the party bosses open and sincere, honest and fearless, adopting policies which thev know to he for the good of the people would rally to their support. People do not want political “hot air” They want to know the truth They are tired of being hoodwinked hy smooth speeches, hy oratorical fervor, and by quickly for gott'm campaign addresses The country will he hest served by its elected officials who endeavor to know their work thorough |v and then dn then- dutv enuraa eotralv and con scientiously with nn fear of the next election One Alone The most personal and individual nf all human cooperative enterprises is the work of saving one’s own soul II is a life lime task coloring every breath ing moment of each individual a task, hy its ven nature, which separates a man from the mass and stands him in bold relief against the background of his time and world, In a letter written in longhand to the German Association of Catholic Women in convention, Our Holy Father sounded a warning against the “destruc tive tendency to absorb the individual in the. mass.” This is a warning essentially against “worldliness As soon as a man loses sight of his individual and oration. supreme destiny as soon as he identifies himself with the worldly “mass" he loses the unique outlook which is of paramount importance to the salvation of his immortal soul. “It seems to me,” the Holy Father wrote, “that there is a conspiracy to make it difficult for rJI Christians to safeguard their personal dignity, nay even to make it impossible.” The Holy Father then points out the cause of this “destructive tendency”—causes which are immediately seen to be especially rampant here in America. He wrote: “Technology and the business of advertising and mass propaganda in radio and motion pictures hardly afford a rest to the senses and prevent con centration on one’s inner self. A type of man is being developed who cannot stand to be alone with himself and his God for even a single hour The individual is being absorbed by the mass.” The particular brand of this pernicious propa ganda to which the Pope refers is characterized by the tenor of the overall excuse offered by the word ing for his behaviour: ‘Everybody’s doing it.” No individual, interested in the salvation of his soul, can afford to subscribe or fall victim to this propa ganda. He must forever subtract himself from the world. Just Among Ourselves Passing Comment Considered or Inconsiderete “Everybody talks about the weather,” said Mark Twain, and then added the words which were to de light advertisers of modern air-conditioners. But the weather was never a really vital topic, except among farmers and on special occasions of temperature wave, drought, storm, or flood. Weather has always been a teeing-off place for casual conversation that has been its chief importance as far as talk is concerned. It took TV to bring weather into real prominence, if not in American conversation, at least in Amer ican consciousness. It is still not quite true to say that everybody talks about the weather (apart from the phrases which are no more conversation than the smile of greeting or the tipping of a hat). But ev erybody is aware of the weather, and in a some what new and vaguely disturbing way. Phrases such as “It’s a fine day,” or "Wasn’t that a stifling night?” or “My. but we need rain,” have always been popular and easy entrances into the or dinary small talk that marks the meeting of friends or acquaintances. But the words have little meteor logical significance. They are just agreeable and friendly expressions. They are phrases of greeting, comparable to the words, “How are you?” or the more stilted equivalent, “How do you do?” And there is a well known jingle that should be known better it goes something like this: “No one is interested in your indigestion How are you? is a greeting, not a question.” Indeed, the weather-greeting is often entirely out of line with facts. There was a friendly old man in our town who used to hail everyone with a cheery "Nice day!” no matter what the state of the weath er. Pranksters used to step into his shop on par ticularly villainous days to test the old man’s fidel ity to his formula. “Fine day, Ambrose,” they would call. Invariably they would have his answer, hearty and wholly sincere, “Fine' fine!" But we were saying that TV has made Ameri cans more weather conscious than they used to be For heretofore the average American was not con scious of much significance in his words of greet ing which happened to deal with the weather. But nowadays this average gentleman or lady is half aware of highs and lows and storm-fronts and air masses and movements of atmosphere clock wise and counter-clockwise. You can hardly turn to the fantastic world of television without finding some beer salesman or cake salesman or newscaster standing before a map of the country, crayon in hand, full of information, and lavish with circles and arrows and the little doodles that indicate rainfall or thunderstorm. You can hardly avoid the thrilling story of a new' “high” over Idaho bringing down a mass of polar-Canadian air. or a new "low” in Tennessee whic» left handed ly induces a rush of tropical-Gulf moisture to carry warmth, wetness, and wailing up the seaboard to wards ape Hatteras. A generation ago, the browser through the morning paper was entertained hy brief statements of temperatures at Medicine Hat and Miami Hr knew and cared nothing for highs and lows and air masses and fronts. His ncw'spaprr is still terse and unlyrical in its weather reports. Rut not his television set. Despite himself, the televiewer be comes an expert the jargon of the weather man ks well as in the modern expression of coarse bur lesque. e are no half way exponents nf any art nr activity we take up. We hammer the thing tn death, Matthew' Arnnld visited Chicagn nnce on a time, and he was shown the glories of big business, including the stock yards. He did his best to express admira tion and approval, hut could not resist the question, “And what about culture?” “Well,” said his host, "we haven’t got around to that yet, hut when we do we’ll make it hum.” We Americans make things hum. We are making the weather hum just now. And humming is sometimes a weariness and a both Wo are interested in time, too, and indicators nf time. We make the matter hum. A visitor from overseas said that American cities are dotted all over w ith public clocks, and yet Americans are in variably late for events and appointments. Still, it is at satisfaction to know just how late you arc, whether it be for the theater, a date with the dentist, or for Mass on Sunday morning. The weather business has enlisted the active interest of thousands of youngsters. Perhaps it’s as well to have Junior absorbed in the mysteries of meteorlogical* maps as to have him hopping with Cassidy or spoofing with space cadets. There are worse things than weather lore, oven when it is mere dabbling in amateui pseudo-science. But there are times when one feels like murmuring with Ham let, “Something too much of this There are times when the hum of a popular fad becomes the ho-hum of a wearied victim. It is surely so with these continuous weather-reports. But maybe there is a silver interior to all these highs and lows and centers and fronts. Maybe we should learn the patter of the TV weather man to squash that semi human individual who wants to know whether it is hot (or cold) enough for us. Then we could silence the pest effectively. “It is hot enough for you?” says he. “Well.” we reply, “right now the heat is considerable, but there is a high pressure area forming over the ponds of Iowa, and it will likely move into this territory within the next few hours, bringing a mass of polar Pacific and polar-Canadian air with it. and sending a cold front, preceded hy a squall-line, which will considerably moderate the prevailing situation And notice, brother, that the tropical-Gulf air which is whooping up from Mexico, charged with humidity and humiliation, is being slowly forced upward by the underseeping polar puff, and will move outward towards Mars before mid Lent. Yes, it’s hot enough for me.” Well, it’s a nice day. THE CATHOLIC TIMES, FRIDAY, AUGUST 2 2, 1 9 5 2 IT ASHINGTON LETTER WASHINGTON Before the month of August is past, it will have seen the publication of two documents which, although is sued thousands of miles apart and seemingly unrelated, com bine to remind the world of a heavy and pressing responsibil ity. “The DP Story” has been prom ised for publication at the end of this month. It will tell of the resettlement in this country dur ing the last four years of almost 400.000 victims of nazi and com munist persecution It is the fin al report of the Displaced Per sons Commission. Despite the epic character of its message, The DP Story” will not mark the end of the refugee and displaced person problem for this country and the world. Un happily, too many people may think it docs. To offset this impression, how ever, one need only to read the Apostolic Constitution Exul Fa milia” (The Family in Exile), is sued hy His Holiness Pope Pius XII at the beginning of August Among the many important les sons the Holy Father brings to our attention are these: 1. There never was a time when the Church was lacking in solicitude for those who H/e far from their native lands (the Holy Family of Palestine lived in ex ile in Egypt) and in modern times the Sovereign Pontiffs have taken important and practical steps to prove this interest 2. In outlining the urgent need to provide spiritual assistance LATHER HIGGINS An Empty Slogan It has been s u gested hy us that social ism. in the economic sense [of the word, is gradually be coming a rath er empty slo gan on the Continent of Europe Many E u opean la bor leaders who still call them selves socialists are beginning to question the validity of social ism as an economic theory. Ev en as they continue to use the language or the jargon of 19th century socialism, they are be ginning to lend their support to economic policies and programs which are Christian rather than Marxist in their inspiration. The philosophy of the class struggle is gradually giving way to the philosophy of cooperation for the common good The po litical strike is now the excep tion rather than the rule. The nationalization of productive property, for the sake of nation alization. is no longer seriously advocated as a universal remedy for the economic ills of society. Evolution, rather than revolu tion, ts gradually becoming the order of the day. It is true, of course, that there Gentlemen—the Key! World Attention On Emigrants to them, Pope Pius XI oointed out that there is a continuously increasing number of refugees and emigrants. It is truly a world problem, in aU of its aspects. The refugees and displaced persons are not all in one locality. Nor do they all want to emigrate to any one country the United State?, or any place else. For example. Western Germany is bu’gng with hungry and unemployed people forced into it from the East. But there is a huge dis placed persons problem in Pal estine, too, and in Hong Kong, and on Formosa. Whereas it is not a displaced persons prob lem in Italy, Japan and a num ber of other places, it is an al most equally serious problem of over population and under-devel oped resources. On the other hand, as the Holy Father points out, the emigrants of today no longer go out to some one or two countries in Europe, or to the United States, or to Latin America. They go also to the Philippines, to Australia, and elsewhere. It is promised that “The DP Story” will show clearly that our resettlement program help ed not only the displaced per sons, but Americans too. It not only helped to alleviate the dis placed persons situation in Eu rope, the report will say it help ed to strengthen the economy of the United States. Both the Pope’s constitution and the U.S. DP Commission’s report emphasize the magnitude are still a lot of Marxist social ists in Western Europe. Some of them are in the labor move ment. It is also true that some who are no longer full-fledged socialists in the economic sense of the word continue to act like 19th-century Marxists in the field of education and religion. •Anti-clericalism is probably on the decline, but altogether too many socialists still consider it fashionable to caricature the Church as the enemy of human progress. More Realism In general, however, there is good reason to hope that more and more socialists in the Eu ropean labor movement—after the example of our own Samuel Gompers, founder and first pres ident of the American Federa tion of Labor—will abandon so cialism in favor of a more real istic philosophy of social recon struction. Gompers started out as a mild sort of socialist in the economic sense of the word (al though there is no evidence that he ever was a traditional social ist in his attitude towards reli gion). But it didn’t take him very long to change his mind. "It is an old axiom." says Dan iel Bell, the brilliant labor ed itor of Fortune magazine, a new symposium entitled Social ism and American life, “that of these mass movements of peo ple. A fact that must not be over looked is that, with verv few ex ceptions, they are like’y to be permanent moves. That means that when displaced persons are offered asylum in some new country they are going to be as similated in that country. As the U.S. DP Commission report will say. its program has brought in to the United States "human re sources worth over three billion dollars in potential production.” Nor does the Pope envision the emigrants becoming separate colonies in the new countries. The Holy Father says to chan lams to emigrants: “In the mean time, however, they (the emi grants) must take pains on Sun days and feast days to attend church together with the Cath olics of the country where they are.” In this era of the greatest mass movements of peof’e in all his tory, it is fortunate that there have been, and still are, agencies to devote their full time to this problem. The DP Commission on a national scale and the Interna tion Refugee Organization on an international scale are no more. But there is PICMME (Provision al Inter governmental Commit tee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe) and there are pri vate organizations on the na tional level like the National Ca tholic Resettlement Council. With the need recognized, md with expert and devoted service available, there is reason to hope that the problem will be fully solved. men develop loyalties to the in stitutions they build, and tend to see events from those partic ular vantage points. In Gompers, we have a case study of the so cialist who entered the union movement, began .to see the American scene from that per spective, and changed his view points as unionism in the course of its development found a re spectable place in American so ciety.” Gompers was a very realistic labor leader, realistic to his fin ger tips. As for the less realis tic socialists of Gompers’ gener ation, Mr. Bell continues, “life was still a triumph of dogma over experience.” In Europe the future belongs to those socialists who are realis tic enough to follow the example of Gompers. It is our impression that their number is increasing. What a tragedy it will be for Europe and the world if Europe an employers refuse to cooper ate with them, if they refuse to give to trade unionism “a re spectable place” in society. For that is what made it possible for a Samuel Gompers to trans fer his loyalty and the loyalty of the American labor move ment to evolution, rather than revolution, in the field of so cial reconstruction. INQUIRY CORNER GRETTA PALMER Isn't All Last-Minute Repentance Unfair? Q. Does not a murderer who repents have an advantage over his victim who may have no time to repent? Is not all last-minute repentance unfair? A. “Watch ye, therefore, be cause you know not what hour your Lord will come.” (Matt. 24: 42) Many times Christ spoke of the need of being prepared al ways, and we know that every soul receives sufficient grace for salvation, even in cases of sud den death. Generally speaking people die as they have lived, and often it is rash judgment to decide how wicked a man is who has a chance for a last minute repentance. “There is so much good in the worst of us,” and God sees it and His grace salvages apparent lost souls, such as the Good Thief on Cal vary. An example of a wicked man who died rejecting God’s grace is given by Christ (Luke 12:20) as an instance of the price of presumption. No one is de prived of heaven except by his own perverse will, nor does any one gain it except by response to grace. Q. Is not there a conflict be tween Christ's command to avoid publicity in prayer and good works (Matthew 6:1) and to “let your light shine before men.'1 (Matt. 5:16)? A. There is no conflict. In another place Christ explains, "Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them” (Mt. 6:1) means that our motive should be pure. In the same Gospel (Mt. 23:5) he condemns the good works of the Pharisees because they do their good works “in order to be seen by men.” It is not the public nature of good works or prayer that is condemned but the de liberate use of them for self glorification. Q. Is it correct to say that one must follow his conscience and that it is the last court of ap peal? A. At any particular moment a person must follow his con science as a guide to moral con duct. The second half of the statement is incorrect, however, for conscience is the first court, not the last. Throughout the his tory of man it has been neces sary for God to furnish guidance for moral judgments, through parents, teachers, law and re ligious leaders. The last court of appeal for right and wrong (moral judgments) is the reveal ed word of God, as taught by A Moving Picture One of the e a e ning phenomena of our age is the fact that Hol 1 y w o od and the gentlemen —t he very practical, hard headed gentle men charg ed with ar ranging e 1 e vision programs are playing up religion. If a zealous Christian, eager to spread the Faith, pro duces a religious film or play or broadcast, it may mean only that he is willing to lose his shirt to save his soul (a not unintelligent exchange). But if the owners of the networks and the producers on the Coast go all out for God, it means that millions of Ameri cans have begun to pray. Warner Brothers’ worst enemy or best friend would never ac cuse that studio of having a bias towards conservatism and “the Right”, it was this lot which produced "Mission to Moscow” and similar pictures in a decade when sympathy for the Soviet Union was popular in Washing ton. “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima” is the name of the ma jor film that Warner Brothers is releasing this month on Broadway. It has all the glossy trimmings that a large budget provides: color shots, “on loca tion” scenes and a large allot ment for exploitation. Such a film would never have been con sidered if certain capable busi nessmen had not decided that, in 1952, God is in men’s minds and Our Lady in their hearts. Weak On History The picture, as you will see when you see it, departs at sev eral points from the bare his torical facts of Fatima: the words spoken to the children of Portugal by the Blessed Mother were not spilled out, at once but were witheld for years. The Bishop did not appear, to take a hand in the proceedings, for the excellent reason that His Excellency had been forced into exile by the Socialist govern ment then in control of Portu gal. The Church at Fatima was not closed by the authorities The parish priest who advised the children’s parents at the be ginning of the 1917 incidents had been replaced by another Father by the summer's end. The characters shown with beards were, in some cases, clean-shaven. The Immaculate Heart of Mary, which figured His authorized representative, the Catholic Church. Among primitive or savage tribes there are many customs such as head hunting and cannibalism, which likely are followed in good faith. Many examples occur among children and they are trained to do right, even though they may be following their (erroneous) conscience. Lying, stealing and other selfish actions are not infallibly seen as wrong by conscience as we see in cer tain evil environments where children grow up with a twisted sense of right, and wrong. Q. How can St. Peter be the rock or foundation when St. Paul writes: “Other foundation no man can lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” A. In St. Matthew’s Gospel (16:18-19) we find Christ stating: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church ...” In many other instances we find, Christ’s commission of St. Peter as the vicar or visible founda tion and he^d of His Church (Luke 22:31-32 John 21:15-17), St. Paul himself relates these two facts in his letter to the Ephesians (2:20): “You are built upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” If the place of Christ did not exclude the Apostles as secon dary foundations, it cannot ex clude the fact that St. Peter was chief of those secondary founda tions.* Q. Do departed souls return to speak at spiritualistic meet ings? A. We read in the Scriptures of instances of departed persons manifesting themselves, as at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Such miraculous events are per mitted by God for grave reasons and in fit circumstances. Spiritu alistic meetings certainly do not meet the requirements, hence they are never true manifsta tions or appearances of the dead. Most of them are elaborate con trivances, inferior in technique to any capable magician, by the mediums. The power of sug gestion and the cooperation of evil spirits fully accounts for the few manifestations that can not be attributed to fraud. No Catholic or Christian (see life of Saul (I Kings 28:7) will have anything to do with such meet ings. Send questions to Inquiry Cor ner, The Catholic Times, Box 636. Columbus (16) Ohio. prominently in the whole beau tiful series of events, is never given mention in the film. Strong On Emphasis “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima” is weak on history— but it is beautifully strong on the supernatural emphasis which might, so easily, have 'been abandoned on the floor of some Coast cutting-room. The sun does dance in the film—and no atheist or naturalistic evasion of this fact is even hinted at. The “Lady” does appear, and she is reverently shown. The pro phecies are fulfilled, and thus a miracle is justified. These are the gifts from Warner Brothers to the faithful of America and of the world we should be grateful for them. The men who chose to invest five or six million dollars in a film like this are not philanthro pists—and thank God that they are not! For if they were, the significance of this picture would be immensely lessened: its production would mean only that a few devout men loved Fatima and that we already know. As things stand, how ever, this picture means that shrewd, money-seeking experts now appraise the mood of Amer ica as being one of hunger for the Catholic best. What Wa Can Do Perhaps, as a single example, we should be talking to our non Catholic friends about the very topics that we rarely broach for fear of offending Protestant sen sibilities: the miracles, the ap paritions, the saints, the relics, the Mass. “But,” you may say, “I am no trained apologist. I dare not bring up the subject of the Faith because I am badly equip ped to answer the difficulties non-Catholics may pose.” Or, you may say, "It embarrasses me to drag in the question of the supernatural to people who may, with some justice, consider it an impertinence for me to try to change their views.” Very well, then: you need not dole out scapulars, nor argue against the Anglican viewpoint on the Apostolic Succession, nor wrangle the question of Bemar dette at Lourdes into your din ner-party conversation. But one thing you can do. no matter whether you are fifty times as inarticulate as you imagine your self to be. You can go to see a picture like "The Miracle of Our Lady at Fatima.” And you can take with you as your guest at least one unbelieving friend!