The Catholic times. [volume], October 29, 1954, Image 4

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4—THE CATHOLIC TIMES
Friday. Oct. 29, 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
This Paper Printed by Union Labor
Enjov Your Freedom
It's an odd thing how circumstances alter a pet
son's point of view. Great privileges, easily exei
cised, often take on the aspect of a burden just b«
cause they are easily exercised. This is particular
the case in so many of our God-given freedom
which we in America enjoy.
How often don’t we hear, expressed with a sign
"I’ve got to go to Church tomorrow,” or ve go
to go to Confession,"—or something of a like natuie
Talk to any of the millions, though, throughout th
world who can no longer get to Mass or onlessioi
those millions who have been robbed of so man
of the comforts of their Holy Religion—and thes
statements turn to ashes in one s mouth.
And so it is with another of our privileges: th
right to hold free elections, the right to vote. It i
sad to note that so many of us have no true appre
ciation of this right, even to the place of not exei
pst of the w
of us carry
and the othc
besides al
uity. And
lightly av
As citizen
an indulge in the
politics” or that aS a Ch
n enter into the mechanics of governmen
he extent nf voting. This obligation
ulfilled by performing some other duty,
o substitute action for voting.
Our present Holy Father. Pius XII. cJ
lained the necessity and duty of voting
wrote:
'“Political’ ii
means nothing e
nf the state. Buit
n the highest sense
else hut collaboratior
this ‘good of the
i very wide sense.
tical action. at hr
•ant in party pc
i? extent that it
ontingent quarrel
*xt Tuesday, November 2. is eh
I with prayer and forethougb
and enjoy nur freedom of cho
etween Catholic
Action must not
M. But, as we
praiseworthy to
hich poison the
druggies of parties ... to that same extent it
mould be blameworthy tn leave the field free to
persons unworthy or incapable nf directing the
The Feast of Christ the King which falls
i coming Sunday becomes more appiopiiatr
vears go by. Since the
lished this feast, the pas
re men to a growing
e, and significance.
nd fall
■vent pra
v Kingsh
her than
Mav .les
Out* Catholic Y outli
youth of the present day
tterbrain segment of societ
le or nothing to be said in
While this gloomy outloo
is we think that it is great
respects, and if our youth
n it has been in the past
ilts in society have sufferer!
dictators and tyrants,
the weakening of various and sundry forms of
ernments ruled by men, with the
iirtinn nf security and freedom
ant husinc
ird with
people th
of thinker
n .an properly direct the desi
is true that representatives nt n.
is to rule Him out of their de
nt days have witnessed a growi
the part of our officials and tho
I not only asked the
he Kingship of Christ
but he asked that 11
:t he
cdm
ht Ii
were responsible for 55 per cent nf all robberies.
60 per cent of all ’burglaries, 69 per cent of all
auto thefts and 43 per cent of all larcenies'” The
past few years have seen a steady increase in these
percentage figures. Disheartening, yes. But whose
fault is it?
The F. B. I. chief was quick to point to the
cause. “Behind these figures,” he said, “lie tragic
stories of parental neglect, broken homes, immoral
ity, adult delinquency, and public apathy—painful
proof that our nation is suffering from spiritual
Adults can take full blame or praise, as the
case may be. for whatever state our youth is in
today.
The celebration this coming week of National
Catholic Youth Week will give us all the oppor
tunity of joining with the youth of the Diocese
in an appraisal of just where we stand or fall. We
predict a pretty encouraging picture if we take
our rightful place in it.
Just Among Ourselves
Pasting Comment Considered or Inconsiderate
To realize the truth of Stevenson’s (Robert, not
Adlai) verse, “The world is so full of a nunjber of
things,” you have only bn turn over, piece by piece,
the contents of a teacher’s mail-box. Mostly second
Get nut your old
Enjoy a little art
man and tell him
that make his
a new quality
i arty little invitation
leaders” throughout
anada, and lands
a printed folder,
and ivory, and
blank. It is such
"restrained,” and
5 all about. Who
ichrein
praised
perhapi
citation
•ct of
ke one, murmur, i
at the restraint is
South African nove
/ho is constan
that her work
used by three children of different
that there is
amount. Thi
it cannot mon
class. You’ll
11, it is a heartening thing to know
day as our own, when there
and dismay, and such
nding “wreck of matter
people can go placidly
in soap sculpture. The st
ays, “As an instrument
cation and
ivini
nife
ielf-ex press ion.
cake of soap
Write the TV
dri to his list of intanj
□ap the wonder of the v
jht texture for sculptur
become of those marRifacturer
map into flak
and powders? No good for s
crumpled cleansers. It will
avid amateur (professional
a snow man in Ivory Snow. The
hand, looks w
What to him
kling phrases.”
or such books,
say “bookmake
ns,
ulpture are these
not the only Ihir
its. Here is a boo
i polished public speaker overnigh
have anything to public speak about n
hat final draft
anything to
\'owr you can polish up
peech tn peak perfection
full of words.
Id, ruthless w
•rds (My)—all
the proper mood.” Any speaker
hat his main business is to ge
proper mood. Proper mood i
i stick around and listen, insteai
v out at the nearest exit. For those that
ii. sympathetic words:” for those that
cold, ruthless word
»ok for speakers. It appe
if the American people is
•caking business or hopes
end of these volumes
lish them with all
them, and feed them 1
There must be a hungr
the booksellers iwe wer
s” hut the word has ce
are turning them out in millions.
•ook—as
I find
id 50 pa
me. alth
•ry item
of
thumbn
people ai
with purr
Russia i
kely be long before the
not aoply
iculptor, I
mere det
ch i
ff blues
and
hat
specially
ng definit
quotation
oy subject. A speake- who
with the aid of this precious
hand in his union card.
LOVIS F. Hl DENZ.
unk
batt I
The
lea/t, U
1
Washington
letter
Russia Seen Stalling
William Jenner
correctly said on October 15,
“unless we quickly sec the shape
of the Communist invasion, un
less we quickly work out the
right counterattack, then and
1 say this solemnly you and
1 will live to see the Soviet
conquest of the United States.”
It is be
torv remark*’,
after another.
And before th'
with 69 chlor
1 246 selected
a diet for a
otations.
auditory
id there.
is not being worked out by the
Congress that the Daily Worker
expresses such pleasure, demand
ing that “the bum (its favorable
name for McCarthy) be thrown
Fa vor Appeasement
ith equal gratification,
munist daily makes mui
nomination, by both Ret
and Democratic parti*
ral state
e Know
iservers believe Russia
of pressing Red China
this time. They do not
nations as pos
entrance intc
aited Nation.’
tific and Cui
is ail exam
time to deal
ing problems,
the period of
New Reel Orders Menace U.S.A.
vises the comrades what they
should do to take advantage of
this favorable situation. Its aim
is stated bluntly on page 12:
“an end to the witch hunting,
the abolition of all Congression
al witch-hunt committees, and
the prosecution of their perjur
ed informers, and a halt to the
Gestapo-like political activities of
(he FBI.” To this is added the
demaftd upon the incoming Con
gress that all moves against the
must
Transmission Belts
If Malenkov were to walk into
the capitol and give these orders
in person, they could not be
more overbearing and arbitrary.
the politicians would
■ject. such demands.
I'he Communists have a more
inning way of making their
rders effective, by using their
The object of the
the October
boldly advises
administration
ders,
Affairs
is to force the
and the forth­
coming Congress to plunge still
further into “Big Power nego
tions.” And in order to encour
age the comrades in pressing
pecial article
in detail the
■y obtained in
in” that at
ted States, blind
age of “peaceful
es into more of
s “negotiations,”
enough. There
4
4
r*
Ah
BAD SOBT O/r CHAD
APTC^ ALL DON'T
YOU KWW.'
For Time
munist organizations will con
tinue to be invited to Russia, so
that, jgizing into carefully pre
pared “show cases,” they can
“see for themselves” what Rus
sia has achieved.
Delivering one of the Gaston
Lectures a* Georgetown Univer
sity here, Chester Bowles, former
U.S. Ambassador to India, warn
ed that communist objectives re-
Stalin’s death, he said, the tac
tics of Moscow have changed
profoundly.
Mr. Bowles said we mav con
ceivably see another war in Asia,
but he felt that the struggle be
tween communism and democ
racy will be decided, not on bat
tlefields, but in rice fields and
villages, in the success or fail
ure of the West in improving the
health and literacy and living
conditions of the people of Asia.
All of these observations are
interesting. However, the times
still call for work and vigilance
and preparedness, and will con
tinue to do so.
the United States has already
bowed to too large an extent.
Too Much Play-Acting
Patriotic Americans can no
longer say that they are fighting
Communism unless they oppose
this whole Red program for un
dermining this nation. There
has been too much play-acting
“against” the conspiracy, not
enough coming to grips with it.
One basic cause for this dismal
picture is the widespread illiter
acy among educated Americans
as to what the Communist docu
ments of directives are ordering
the concealed Communists and
their friends to do.
If every intelligent citizen
were to take the trouble to try
to save his country by learning
something of the Communist line
and then flooding Representa
tives and Senators with opposi
tion to it, the face of the nation
would be changed.
Literate On Communism
Knowing this, the October
Political Affairs prepares the
comrades to treat the educated
American as though he were a
yokel at a country fair, and lays
plans for befudding his mind.
This is done in two articles. One
warns the comrades that their
adherence is to Soviet Russia
hut they must deceive Americans
into the belief that Reds are
“patriotic.” The other is an al
leged “reply to a priest’s letter”
by William Z. Foster. In this
‘‘reply” Foster takes occasion to
re-emphasize that the comrades
must be atheists but must also
do all in their power to^nf titrate
the Catholics. The big source
of this infiltration is to be found
in winning these Catholics to
the battle against “McCarthy-
The entire October issue of
Political. Affairs can be a tex|,
teaching those who are educated
that they should become literate
on Communism and its methods
Inquiry Corner
................-—. Father Healey-------------------
Q. The following clipping was
taken from one of our local
newspapers: ’‘What church or
organization provided the sing
ing in the motion picture, ‘Mar
tin Luther?’ Answer: The Musica
Sacra Chords of the Benedictine
Monastery of St. Boniface in
Munich, Germany.” Can you ex
plain this paradox, a Catholic
monastery cooperating in pro
ducing a film condemned by the
Legion of Decency?
A. It is unlikely that a Catholic
monastery cooperated in produc
ing the film. Probably commer
cial records of this monastery's
singing group were used, over
which the monastery retained
little or no control. At any rate
the particular circumstances are
not known to us. It could be
that the propaganda content of
the movie was not properly ex
plained. After all the monastery
could scarcely be guided by the
Legion of Decency rating in
America which came after the
movie was completed. Judging
the movie as explained in the
pamphlet “The Film Nfartin Lu
ther” by Robert J. Welch it
would be hard to explain active
cooneration on the part of any
Catholic person or organization
in its production. We can only
assume that there is some ex
planation consistent with Catho
lic practice which prompted the
cooperation there was by this
Catholic group if they did
actually cooperate in it.
Q. Is not the devotion to the
"Sacred Heart” too particular?
Why not to Christ Himself as a
whole person?
A. As early as 1697 attempts
were made to have a day set
apart for this devotion which
was known as early as the twelf
th century. Following, but not
because of, the apparitions to
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
(canonized in 1920), the devo
tion was approved for some place
in 1765 and for the whole Church
in 1856. The true devotion to
the Sacred Heart is directed to
the divine Person. The real and
physical Heart of Christ is a
natural symbol of the great love
of Our Lord for us. The heart
has always been looked upon as
an emblem of courage and love,
and the devotion does not end
with concentration upon the par
ticular but upon Christ Himself
Rev, .Jolin F. Cronin. S.S.
These columns so frequently
refer to “social action” and “so
cial justice” that an occasional
pause for perspective might be
in order. Many good Catholics
may wonder w-hy we so often
emphasize the need for doing
things socially. It seems to some,
at least, that our main concern
is with individual virtue and per
sonal salvation.
Actually the emphasis upon so
cial action is deeply grounded in
human nature. Many important
problems cannot be solved by in
dividual action alone. Whether
we like it or not, we are part of
a complex society. The tone of
this society influences us we,
in turn, can do our part to in
fluence our social climate.
A homemade example can be
found in the comic-book contro
versy which crops up at intervals
in the press and in local commun
ities. There is no question that a
minority of comic-book publishers
are putting out material which is
dangerous trash. It puts in the
minds of young readers, and ad
ult readers as well, the mo®t re
volting ideas spawned by sadis
tic, perverted minds. Clearly this
type of publication should not
get to young readers, if it should
be permitted at all.
Clearly Inadequate
If we were to attack this evil
solely by individual action, we
would forbid our children to buy
and read such harmful publica
tions. We would try to convince
them that they should not accept
such books, even if offered by
other children. But such a line
is clearly inadequate. Children
are great imitators. Even if we
keep bad literature out of the
house, we might only stir their
curiosity to obtain it elsewhere
and read it on the slj. Our teach
ing does not offer us ironclad
protection, even with docile and
good children.
Were we further to suppose
that our own children did obey
us, they still are influenced by
the ideas of those whose parents
do not exercise effective control.
They go to school with and play
with such children. They cannot
help being at least partly influ
enced by their environment.
Hence to protect our children
we must see that their environ
ment is wholesome.
In the case of comic books, the
first step in protecting children
involved parental pressure upon
the industry to clean house. Most
of the publishers did agree to a
code of fair standards and to
the appointment of a “czar” to
police the agreement. This was a
good first step nationally. But
it has to be followed up locally
because of the minority which
hold out and which will continue
to publish dangerous comic
books.
whose love for us is so great.
From early times the Five
Wounds of our Lord were vene
rated as symbols of His Passion
and this apparently “particular”
devotion has the same purpose:
to stir up our love and devotion
to Christ.
Q. What right does the Church
have to restrict the Catholic's
freedom in reading matter? Are
we afraid of any book. Can't
we answer any objection?
A. It is the truth which makes
men free The Catholic
hurch does not restrain a man
from degrading himself in any
way he chooses, for virtue con
sists in deliberate choice of the
good and the true. For Catholics
and all those u’ho recognize the
commission of the Church, given
by Christ.for the guidance of
all men. there is no problem in
Church Law. Besides the in
fallible teaching of the Church
there is the general office en
trusted to the Church by Christ
(“Feed my Iambs, feed my
sheep” John 21:15) to act for
the Good Shepherd. Any book
which seriously threatens the
Faith or morals of Christians is
listed in the Index of Forbidden
Books. All books, including
thousands which the Church
considers too insignificant to list
by name, which might injure the
soul are forbidden by Christ Him
self: “What does it profit a man
if he gain the whole world and
suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mat
thew 16:26)..
Q. What is the point in the
change from "Ite missa est" to
"Benedicamus Domino” in cer
tain Masses?
A. In the early days of the
Church the common customs of
the times were often adopted.
Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne,
490 A.D., mentions that the
proclamation “Missa est” was
used to dismiss civil and religious
assemblies. At that time it de
noted the end of the Mass and it
is from this dismissal that we get
the popular name for the Mass.
On days of penance, however, the
people stayed in church to say
more prayers and so the exhorta
tion to prayer (Benedicamus
•Domino) was substituted for the
dismissal.
Send questions to Father Ed
ward F. Healey, Inquiry Corner,
The Catholic Times, Box 636,
Columbus (16) Ohio.
Catholic Social Action
yins has as guest columnist this week Father
slant divcctOT of tihe Social Action Department,
Concrete Example
As a local step, it would be pos
sible for parents to persuade
dealers not to handle the worst
type of comic books. Even better
would be the adoption of local
ordinances banning such mater
ial from the newsstands. Only
organized pressure can get such
laws. Since these law's will he
fought in the courts, and may
possibly be banned as violating
the Bill of Rights, it might ulti
mately be necessary to secure a
Constitutional amendment so we
can protect our homes and chil
dren.
Here is a concrete example of
the need for Catholic social ac
tion in the family field. This case
also illustrates another point,
namely, that in securing a better
environment, we need not, and
often should not, act alone. More
effective work can often be done
by a united front with other per
sons and groups, not Catholic,
interested in protecting the fam
ily.
The illustration used involved
what might be called negative
action: preventing an existing
evil. The negative approach is
often needed, but many times it
is not enough. We must not
merely displace what is evil, we
must replace it with the' good,
otherwise something equally
dangerous might fill the vacuum.
Thus we might give active en
couragement to the publishers
of wholesome comic books,
We might consider another
important family problem of the
moment: the pattern of single
dating in the younger teen-age
group. This practice stunts the
social development of youth and
may well lead to serious moral
problems. But-it is not easy mere
ly to denounce or meet head-on
a strongly rooted pattern of
conduct. It is much better to offer
something more attractive in its
place, such as parties, square
dances, and the like in which
young people participate as
groups.
Only community action can
break up unwholesome patterns
of conduct among school chil
dren. Individual parents who try
to get their children not to con
form find that their offspring
rebel at being different and os
tracized.
What w»as said about family
life is equally tri e of economic
life. Environment and patterns
of conduct deeply affect individ
uals. In a competitive world, we
must act jointly to raise stand
ards above the level of jungle
ethics. Laws and regulation are
often necessary. Oi^anizations,
such as labor unions and employ
er groups, get results when in
dividual action would fail. This
is why we call for social action
in the interests of social justice.