Newspaper Page Text
4—THE CATHOLIC TIMES Friday, August 27, 1954 THE CATHOLIC TIMES Published Every Week by The Catholic Times. Inc. Columbus. Ohio NOTICE. Send All Changes of Address to P. O. Box 636 Columbus. Ohio Executive and Editorial Offices: 246 E. Town Street, Columbus 15. Ohio Address all communications for publication to P. O. Box 636. Columbus 16, Ohio Telephones: CA. 4-5195 CA. 4-5196 Priee of The Catholic Time* per year. Al) Mihaenptiona ahould be presented to our office throuzb the pastor* of the parishes. Remittances should be made payable to The Cath olic Times. Anonymous communications will be disregarded. We do not hold ourselves responsible for any views or opinions expressed in the communications of our correspondents. Lntered as Second Class Matter at Post Office, Columbus, Ohio. St. Francis de Sales, Patron of the Catholic Press. Pray for us I This Paper Printed by Union Labor A Pressing Need I Congress has adjourned and its accomplishments! are being extolled or lamented, according to one s! evaluation of its legislative activity. Whatever ourl opinion, there is one piece of legislation passed! by this Congress which gives us an added oppor-l (unity to help our less fortunate brothers in Christ.! The Refugee Relief Act of 1953 was passed just! a year ago. This Law permits 214,000 persons to I come into the United States from the crowded! camps and hovels in which they are now living! after fleeing from Communist countries. A major I ity of these refugees are Catholic. Since they know! that, under Communism, they would be robbed oil the priceless heritage of their Faith, they have pip ferred to give up their homes rather than theirl Religion. The Catholics of the Diocese Columbus gavel a generous response to the Displaced Persons pro-1 gram which was in effect from 1948 to 1952. I hey I were responsible for bringing 390 of these people! into the Diocese and aided them further in theirl adjustment to a new and strange environment. Wei have a well-founded hope, therefore, that our Ca-I tholic people will not be found wanting in this new! program to help the refugees. The entire program under the Refugee Relief! Act has been slow in its early stages. By the end! ot 1953, only four persons had come into this coun-l trv under its provisions. By now, this number has! noticeably increased, but still only a small percent age of the 214.000 have entered the United States Some people in the Diocese have already offered! assurances for refugees. Five assurances have been! submitted, requesting a total of twelve persons.! Although this is commendable, it is obvious that! more must be done if we are to meet out obliga-l tions in Charity toward these people. The new law requires that a home and a job be! provided for the refugee before he can immigrate! Assurance against becoming a public charge is also! necessary and transportation costs from Europe! must be provided. All of these do not have to be provided by the same party. Everyone is encour-l aged to offer whatever help he can provide. I ’rhe sponsorship under the Refugee Relief Act! must be specific and personal. |t is not possible! for an agency to be a sponsor, nor can blanket as-1 surances be given without specifying the actual! home and job being provided. In these provisions the new program differs from the Displaced P« I sons Act. Further details about this program can be pro I vided by the Catholic Welfare Bureau. 246 East! Town Street, olumbus, Ohio. All who can help utl this program are being urged to call or write that! agency The resettlement of the homeless refugees isi admittedly a huge undertaking-—one which evokes! wore from the hard-hearted and brings discourage I ment tn the faint hearted. From the true Christian! however, it should bring forth a Christ-like Charity! or love for the poor and homeless. It should arouse! sympathy and a courageous resolve to help the! suffering members of the Mystical Body of Christ! We should rest uneasy under our protective roof! and on our comfortable bed as long as we know! that it is still true that “The foxes have dens, andl the birds ol the an- have nests, but the Son of Man! has nowhere to hy His head.” More oTHib Kind The shadow that is cast on the world by thel death of a great man more often than not brightens,I instead of dims, what it touches. And such is thel case we are witnessing with the passing of Italy s| statesman Alcide de Gasperi. I The judgment of history on the man's total ef fed on the world in which he lived is easily fore cast from the appraisals of his contemporaries. And thev are all at one to this: Alcide de Gasperi wasl a great statesman he was a deeply religious man. When speaking of the man, friend and foe alike recognized that these two statements were emin ently true and joined together inseparably. He was great and he was religious. And what makes this judgment particularly significant? It is the fact that I his lifelong business was politics. In a world that has come to view the appellation ••politician’’ with suspicion, religion and politics have been adjudged to be as elementarv opposed as oil and water. The life of Alcide de Gasperi is comforting proof that politics and religion do mix I Jt is io he hoped that from his example the world elements must do more than mix—they must be compounded. De Gasperi’s one aim through more than titty years of political life was to applv to government hristian principles. His stature in the present world, as seen from his accomplishments, is w hat it is, be cause of his success in carrying out his aim. This singleness of purpose of his was well known to all. So well known, in fact that his political en emies tried to discredit him They called him a "Vatican lackey." This gave de Gasperi hut another apportunii v to onenlv publicize his political "Credo" In retort to this jibe he said: "If this is an attempt to embarrass me lor my Faith, I declare that it is useless because I do not make any secret of that, nor do I make any secret nf mv devotion to the Church, my devotion and ad miration as an Italian and as a Catholic toward the present Pontiff, who in his teachings and all his immense works and cares has but one policy, that of a charity which knows no limits and of a defense for th* rights of peoples unparalleled in the world! today.” De Gasperi died with the name of his Saviour! nr, his lip* as his last words We pray that God be I tn him Hi- faithful MFVa*t and 1n us hv I raising among us more of his like. I Absent-Minded Professors Recalling the number of limes we have been the ms of ui own preoccupation in our everyday existence, we are struck with the uneasy query that maybe just such a shortsighted stumbling has taken place in our spiritual life It should be obvious to us all, as Christians, that the dne thing of para mount importance for us all is to do the will of God. We are convinced that in this way lies hap piness, now’ and in the world to come. And yet, on occasion, we stumble and scramble, this way and that, saying, "1 would do the will nf God now if 1 only knew what Mil Surrh 'hi is the acme I I I I I I I I I of abaent-mindedneiB Mr professors of tha true faith. Where is the will of God to Jte found? We have only io recall to mind the lessons of the lit tle catechism. The will of God can be found at all times in the Ten Commandments, the precepts of the Church, and the counsels of our confessors. It is this obvious. It is this easy. It comes with the sense of a letdown, almost. And yet, maybe, we have been so busy with nonessentials that we have missed the answer all along. St. Paul prays that we all may know this answer and “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Just Among Ourselves Passing C»mm»nl Considered er Inconsiderate Turning the pages of a modern educational journal, one is amazed to find an interminable suc cession of advertisements for "audio-visual aids." It seems that educators are now to please the eye and ear of the pupil even though the young mind remains impervious to pedagogical effort. For "audio-visual” is pedagese for “school sound-movies.” Doubtless, the use of pictures, moving or still as the Ancient Mariner’s ocean, is important in education. It has always been considered so. To reach the mind through vision as well as through hearing is manifestly better than to reach the mind through either sense alone. But surely there is to day an overplus of emphasis on this audio-visual business. The advertisements for a-v-a in pedagog ical publications are as repetitious and fulsome as the TV ads for cigarettes or beers. Time cannot wither them nor custom stale their infinite variety. This is at least partly because they are withered and stale to begin with. Like all the theories and gadgetries which keep modern educators’ hearts aflutter, these audio visual aids have to do with methods. About the actual content of the message which teacher tries to impart to pupil, there is small discussion today. Many prominent educators feel that there is no tike discussing it many others feel that it doesn’t matter much. Take a class of pupils to visit a fac tory show them a reel or two of film which pictures the development of an industry lecture them a little about being observant of how father puts in the screens or draws his pay-check—and there you have a school course in "social relations,” or "cur rent history,” or citizenship in action," or—the old favorite—"problems in democracy.” You have a fine choice of labels,-—indeed an almost unlimited choice,—for almost any activity or screen show or "field trip” that school children can be entertained with. In a word, it does not matter much what is taught it matters supremely that it be taught in the most modern fashion. That is, it matters not what mental fare is served so long as it is served well. Education has currently surrendered the effort to deal with truth or reality it is concerned almost exclusively with the way in which its effort is to be expended. Ask a modern educator whit is the purpose of education. He will tell you, quoting the highest authorities, that "the ultimate aims and objectives of the educative process cannot be sharp, ly determined.” How then should he know what truths, what facts, what theories, willl serve his purpose? His purpose is not defined. He doesn’t know what his purpose is. But, whatever it is or may turn out to be, he is determined on pursuing it in the most scientific and fashionable way. Meth, od. not matter or puroose, is his interest, his darling, his be-all and end-all. But. even bo, he steps on himself in trying to make the "educative process” a matter of learning without tears. He wants schooling to be an effort less and entertaining business, when by its very nature, it is a burden and a hardship to pupil and teacher alike, and particularly to pupil. The mod ern educator is like the advertiser who tells men that his special brand of lather makes shaving a delightful experience, when every man who hears him knows that shaving is a confounded nuisance. The results of shaving may be pleasant the process itself is not a thing that a man would indulge in for its own sake it is a thing he would not do at all, but that consideration of his own comfort or the current fashion forces him to do it. It is so with schooling. The results of it may please the process is a bother and a bore when it is not productive of actual suffering Now. if you turn a school into an entertain ment hall, it is inevitably an inferior sort of en tertainment that you provide. The audio-visual aid may indeed be an aid, but while it may be good in struction, it is necessarily poor pastime. Give pu pils their choice of going out to the neighborhood movie or of enjoying a nice film on the school pro jector, and you will only need a minute to put the cover on the gadget for audio-visual aid. That is what is meant by saying that an entertaining sort of education is necessarily inferior entertainment. It is a question whether it be not also an inferior sort of education. Human nature, in young or old, feels a sort of self-respect, a realization of dignity, in performing a task, even when the task is unpalatable. Yes, hu man nature feels this self-respect in being assigned Io a task it performs shabbily. But human* nature experiences no lift of self-respect in being told that a task is not a task, but is "fun*’. There is a great deal of common sense in Mr. Dooley's re mark,—which sums up a valuable philosophy of edu cation,—that it doesn't matter what you teach children, so long as it is hard. You cannot educate children—or adults—by entertaining them. A schooling need not be planned for hardships. There can be enough of that, even in a streamlined school, equipped with endless glass, air-condition ing, gymnasium, and a fleet of modern busses. But pupils should know from the first that they are not going to school to play, nor for entertainment, but to work. Despite what educators and their quotable philosophers say about the "indeterminateness” of educational aims and objectives, there is a general notion, in educators and all others, that education is somehow meant to fit a child for life. And you can’t fit a child for life by teaching him to ignore personal responsibilities and personal efforts, and to regard everything as play, entertainment, and "fun”. Life itself will soon teach him a different lesson, and in his bitterness (like David in his wrath) he will cry out that all men are liars—especially educators. It is good that we have made great improvement in the physical arrangements for education. But we should sometimes pause to inquire whether our easing of material difficulties which attended the old-time schooling has not been also an easing-out of education itself. As we examine the magnificent equipment of a modern school, we may justifiably ask whether we have not got rid of much more than the old bleak walls, crude benches, the water bucket. and the pot bellied stove. By all means, let us have audio-visual aids. But let us not,—as the advertisers appear to want us to do,—allow the aids to take over the work. A crutch cannot walk for us, though it may help us to walk. A fine moving picture of legislators in action, golf ers at work, millers making flour, or loafers touring the Orient, may help us understand things valu able to understand but the picture can do no think ing for us, nor of itself can it prod us to think. Of itself, it can nnly entertain us. and that not vividly, but boringly. Com m* W ASHINCTOy LETTFK The uprising in Warsaw start ed on August 1. 1944. The Polish Home Army, thousands strong, appeared apparently out of the ground. It was a force that wore a variety of uniforms, out of ne cessity, and that it was able to stand off the vastly superior nazi LOVIS F. BUDFNZ The old saying, "Read il and weep,” runs through my mind as 1 examine the leading direc tive article for the Soviet fifth column in the August issue of Political Affairs. But I would change the thought, for ev ery leading person in our govern ment and in public life to "read it —and learn how to fight communism.” The article has a different purpose from that, of course. Written by Wil liam Z. Foster, national chair man of (he Communist Party, it teaches Moscow s followers how to work for the destruction of the United States. But in the course of the discussion, Foster sings a hymn of praise to recent Soviet victories and cannot re strain himself from indicating that these Moscow gains are the results of the blindness of those supposedly leading the Ameri can nation. Pleated At Blindneit As leader of the Kremlin’s trained infiltrators here, Foster is more than pleased at this blindness, and his aim is to make certain that it is intensified. He points out with much elation that "American imperialism and its allies are going from one defeat to another," and tells why this is occurring. To put it brief ly, and freed from the commun ist jargon which Foster must em ploy for conspiratorial purpos es, these defeats are taking place because American leadership is yielding to what the Kremlin wants it to do. If any person wishes genuine ly to save this country, rather than merely to talk about being "against communism,” he should take the contents of this column and use it to write everyone in Washington from the Presi dent down. For Foster reveals Plebiscite A Sad Anniversary WASHINGTON This month marks the tenth anniversary of one of the saddest developments of World War II, the failure of the Soviet Red army to help the patriotic Poles in Warsaw who had risen in revolt against the nazi war machine. This anniversary is being re called with memorial service in several different countries. Here in Washington, a Congressional committee has made public testi mony it took from the., heroic Polish commander and others relating to this incident. It sheds new light on one phase of the matter that had let the Western Allies in for some criticism. It seems now that the Russians, who were then our allies, block ed the efforts of the United States and England to come to the aid of the Poles. army lor 63 days was one of the marvels of the time. "Soviet propaganda strongly encouraged the Poles to revolt against the crumbling nazi ar my,” says a report issued by the House of Representatives se lect committee, headed by Repre sentative Charles J. Kersten of Wisconsin, which is investigat ing communist aggression. “At that time the Red army was in the suburbs of Warsaw, separat ed only by the Vistula River from the city itself. Poles were sure that when the revolt start ed the Red army would come to their help since it was in a full offensive against the Germans. When the uprising started the Red army stopped its offensive. At first, Soviet propaganda and Stalin denied any revolt in War saw later, when asked by Roose velt and Churchill to help War saw, Stalin refused. Finally the government of the USSR and Sta lin personally branded the War saw patriots as fascists and re actionaries. "When the American and Do More Than Weep! that the communist conspiracy and its friends have been able to persuade our government up on a course of action, which the Reds intend to use to destroy us. "Peaceful Co-Existence" That course of action is rep resented by Stalin’s slogan "peaceful co-existence,” which has now been repeated, as I have said before, by the titular heads of both the Republican and Democratic parties, Foster has entitled his own article most appropriately “The Question of Peaceful Co-Existence of the USA and the USSR.” Encouraged by the surrender of our political leaders to a pol icy expressed by Stalin's slogan, Foster boldly declares that true *‘p e ace ful co-existence” can come about only through the to tal disarmament of the United States, the destruction of all its atomic weapons, (he sanctioning of Soviet aggression under the fictitious claim that this repre sents “independence of coun tries,” the full recognition of Red China, and the complete liquida tion of NATO and the European Defense Community. In other words, the Kremlin means to use the blindness of the American nation which leads us contin ually to negotiate with Soviet Russia to a place where we tcill be defenseless. Drugging The U.S. But Foster goes farther than that. He shows clearly to Mos cow’s followers that this drug ging of the United States into the belief that it can negotiate with Soviet Russia will lead to the destruction of "American im perialism,” that is, our Republic. To sum it up, the Communist leader points out that pressing forward with, the concept oj '‘peaceful coexistence" unit lead to victory within the United (States jor the Reds "in the world struggle for Socialism.’ In that conclusion, Foster is correct, even though he distorts the facts in order to reach it. ■‘wjiwi' 7 British authorities determined to help the Polish patriots by drop ping arms and supplies by air, the government of the USSR re fused landing facilities in com munist-held territory. We and the British nevertheless made several drops of supplies on Warsaw. Following this, the Western Allies were warned that if any further efforts were made to help the Warsaw patri ots, pilots landing on communist held territory would be interned until after the war. "As a result of such tactics, the center and heart of the Pol ish organized resistance, loyal to the Polish government in exile, and completely anti-communist, was wiped out by the nazis while the Red army idly looked on.” The Kersten committee re ports that it heard testimony with regard to this matter in Ixindon, and that Gen. Thaddeus Bor-Komorowski, commander-in chief of the Polish Home Army, and several officers of his for mer staff were among those who testified. And it is a conclusion W’hich gives us a warning that if the United States continues to per sist in following the will-o’-the wisp of negotiating itself into peace with Soviet Russia, it will bring about its own final de struction There is only one way to end war from the Communist view pont, he writes on the same pag es where he talks so glibly of “peace.” Here are his words: “Stalin, among his last state ments, re-emphasized Innin's po sition that so long as imperial ism lasts, there will be danger of war a warning which is doubly pertinent with re.gard to American imperialism.” To put it more directly, the sole way that true “peace” can be won, accord ing to the Kremlin, is by the Soviet conquest of the United States of America. And Foster indicates that this is coming quicker than many people imag ine. Poison The poison in "peaceful co existence” is that it persuades a number of the American people to the belief that some kind of stable relations can be reached with the Soviet dictatorship by continually talking with Soviet leaders. Every experience of ours shows this to be false, and yet our leaders continue to fol low the path which is leading from defeat to defeat. In his frank and courageous manner. General Mark W. Clark cut through the whole stupidity of this attitude, when he ap peared before the Senate Sub committee on Internal Security on August 10. The only road to American security, General Clark showed, is by breaking off rela tions with Soviet Russia and its satellite regimes. To save the United States, readers of this column have an obligation to get General Clark’s statement, study it, and use it widely. Even before that, they can express their support of it by a flood of letters to Washington. Inquiry Corner Father Healey Q. Is is possible for the souls to come back to earth e. g. in haunted houses, seances, etc. A. We have instances in the Bible of the appearance of the departed: "And behold, the cur tain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were open ed, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they came into the holy city, and appeared to many.” (Mat thew 27:51-53) Obviously these apparitions were permitted by God and there was a good and proportionate reason. Haunting a house would scarcely meet these requirements and certain ly the confusion of spiritistic seances cannot be approved by God. Practically all the pheno mena connected with such events have a human explanation. The very few instances which do not 'eem to admit of natural explanation must be attributed to the devil. Q. Is Christ or St. Peter the rock upon which the Christian Church is built? A neighbor of mine objects that we crowd Christ out of the picture by sub stituting St. Peter as the rock and Mary as the mediatrix be tween us and God. A. St. Paul states the princi ple well in regard to the Apos tles: "You are built upon the foundation of the Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” (Ephesians 2:20) St. Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, are not in com petition or opposition to Christ. They arc vicars, which means one who takes the place of e.g. vice-president. Christ Himself gave Peter and his successors this position: "Thou art Peter, and unun this rock I will build my Church ...” (Matthew 16:18-19.) Christ ascended into heaven and left His Apostles under the leadership of His vicar (Luke 22:31-32 John 21:15-17) and it is this visible organization which the Catholic Church keeps. Your neighbor has never studied the Mass or the Divine Office nor the Rosary for that matter il he thinks that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary crowds out devotion to Christ. We end the orations at Mass “Through Our Lord Jesus Christ ...” and even in the Rosary the medita tions are, largely concerned with the life ol Christ. Q. Why is the Church so slow to change the Mass into English MONSIGS’OR HIGGINS The Union The so-called right-to-work law recently enacted by the legisla ture of Louisiana unconditional ly prohibits the union shop in that state. For this reason, among others it was vigor ously opposed by Archbishop Rummel of New Orleans. In taking this position, was the Archbishop merely ex pressing a per sonal political opinion as some of his critics have charged —or was he reflecting the gen eral Catholic point of view with reference to the morality of the union shop? Has the American Hierarchy said anything official ly about this subject? What about American theologians? To the best of our knowl edge, neither the general body of American Bishops nor the Administrative Board of the Na tional Catholic Welfare Confer ence has ever issued an official statement bearing directly on the union shop. The reason for this is that the morality of the union shop has hardly ever been called into question by compe tent spokesmen for the Catholic point of view. American theo logians and American Catholic experts in the field of labor re lations are almost unanimously agreed that the union shop is morally legitimate. Their reason ing is adequately summarized in an article by the late Monsignor John A. Ryan, "Moral Aspects of Labor Unions,” in the Cath olic Encyclopedia. Another useful summary of the Catholic point of view with reference to union security is to be found in a Catholic Universi ty of America doctoral disserta tion entitled "The Closed Shop.” This dissertation was written by Father Jerome Toner, O.S.B.. of St. Martin’s College, Olympia, Washington, under the direction of Monsignor Ryan and the late Bishop Haas. The following ex cerpt from Father Toner's disser tation will make it clear that Archbishop Rummel was reflect ing the general Catholic point of view when he defended the mor ality of the union shop. Papal Approval "The teachings of the Popes and their interpretation and ap plication for American industry by the Archbishops and Bish ops.” Father Toner concludes, "lend substantial although not specific endorsement to the Closed Shop. Nowhere is it nam ed as an evil to be condemned. (and other languages that people understand) so that people can understand what is going on? A. It is not self-evident that we would gain more than we would lose by such a change. There are great scholars and churchmen who hold that we would, for one thing, lose some of the sense of the Church Ca tholic i.e. the praying together in a common tongue with its set meanings. They argue too that it is possible for any interested Catholic to follow with a missal in his own language and that there is great danger is expecting too much of any such change. Instruction, formation and zeal is necessary for fervent prayer and participation in the Mass. The prajers of the Missal are not so emotionally-charged or self-evident that their use in English w ould necessarily inspire the whole congregation. While there are many who speak elo quently for it they admit tnat there is no magic in vernacular in the liturgy. It could undoubt edly make it easier for many to understand the Mass, but before any general change is made the Church will investigate the ques tion thoroughly. In his encycli cal on the Liturgy (Mediator Dei) Pope Pius XII states: "The use of the Latin language, cus tomary in a considerable portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity, as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth. In spite of this, the use of the mother tongue in connection with several of the rites may be of much advantage to the people. But the Apostolic See alone 1* empowered to grant this per mission.” Q. Do non Catholics have guardian angels? A. It would seem that they do, God denies to no one the general helps toward salvation for He wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Certainly the devils are permitted to attack all men, and it would seem fitting that good angels be commissioned to ■de fend men thus attacked. Since non-Catholics do not have many of the opportunities (Sacrament of Penance, Holy Eucharist etc.) and helps which Catholics enjoy it would seem that this protec tion would be even more neces sary than for Catholics. Send questions to Father Ed ward Healey, Inquiry Corner, The Catholic Times, Box 636,' Columbus (16) Ohio. Shop It receives indirect approval in the papal idealization of the an cient guilds which were volun tary or free associations in ra sped to membership—that is, they were "open” so that a work er was free to join or not to join—but compulsory or “closed” in regard to trade or craft that is. no one who was not a mem ber of the guild could work at a trade or craft.” Father Toner is concerned pri marily with the closed shop. It is obvious, however, that what he says in favor of the closed shop applies even more strong ly to the union shop, which is, relatively speaking, a milder form of union security. Father Toner might have add ed that while the official state ments of the American hierarchy do not lend "specific endorse ment” to the closed or union shop, they do lend strong sup port to the proposition that all workers should be organized in to trade unions. Duty To Organize If the workers are said to have the duty to organize, it does not necessarily follow therefrom that the union shop is morally legitimate. It will be apparent, however, that there is a marked difference between the attitude of the average opponent of the union shop and that of the ma jority of commentators on tha social encyclicals as to the de sirability of trade unionism. The average opponent of the union shop and the average proponent of so-called “right-to-work” leg islation regards the decision (to organize or not to organize) as a purely individual decision on the part of the individual work ers. By contrast, the American Bishops, the Canadian Bishops, and the majority of American students of Catholic social teach ing place their emphasis on tha social responsibility of individual workers to contribute to the common good by organizing with their fellow workers. It goes without saying, of course, that the same responsi bility rests upon employers to organize into appropriate associ ations on their own as the nor mal way of making their requir ed contribution to the common good. It also goes without say ing that every effort must be made by the members of these organizations of workers and employers to bring their poli cies and practices into line with Christian teaching. In other words, to argue in favor of the morality of the union shop is not to close one’s eyes to the fact that some unions (like some em ployers’ associations) are less than perfect.