'Clearly... Rejected,' Priest Says: F,,iday, Feb. 21, 1964 THE PROGRESS--3
Official Holy See Has Condemned Oral Contraceptives
Washington's Birthday
All the faithful of the Archdiocese of Seattle are
hereby dispensed from the laws of fast and partial
abstinence Saturday, February 22, a national holiday
in observance of the birthday of George Washington.
All who use this dispensation are exhorted to
make, in a spirit of gratitude, some offering in favor
of the poor for the intention of our Holy Father, Pope
Paul VI.
February 21, 1964
By Order of the Most Reverend Archbi, shop
THE CHANCERY
Florida Supreme Court
D Upholds School Prayer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (NC)The Supreme Court
of.Florida has ruled for the second time that a state
law requiring Bible reading and recitation of the
Lord's Prayer in public schools is constitutional.
The state court held unanimously January 29 that
the law is based on "secular rather than sectarian
The Florida Supreme Court
upheld the same law in August,
1962, but its ruling was ap-
pealed to the U. S. Supreme
Court.
In June, 1963, the U. S. high
court struck down prayer and
Bible-reading statutes in Penn-
sylvania and Maryland. At the
same time it sent the Florida
said it would be "more fitting"
for any further action to come
from the U. S. high court.
Florida public schools have
continued daily Bible-reading
during the current litigation,
which began several years
ago.
The complaining parents in
the case were supported by the
case back to the state Supreme American Jewish Congress and
Court for another look. the American Civil Liberties
The state court has now Union. They were represented
taken its second look and by New York attorney Leo
reached the same conclusion as Pfeffer, long a prominent figure
the first time. In doing so, it in the field of Church-State law.
Speakers for Press Announced
(Continued from Page 1)
Seattle, Rev. John Sproule; St. Joseph's, Vancouver, Rev. Joseph
Erny; Sacred Heart, Tacoma, Rev. John Doherty; Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Sedro Woolley, Rev. James Mallahan; Our
Lady of Good Help, Hoquiam, Rev. Vincent McEachen, O.P.;
Holy Rosary, Seattle, Rev. James Gandrau; St. Mark's, Seattle,
Rev. Michael Cody; St. Peter's, Seattle, Rev. Ray.mend Troik,
C.Ss,R.; St. Joseph's, Cbehalis, Rev. Jerome Dooley; Holy
D Rosary, Edmonds, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Philip Duffy; Our Lady of
Perpetuai Help, Everett, Rev. John Bowen, S.S.; Assumption,
Bellingham, Rev. David White; Holy Family, Seattle, Rev. D.
Harvey McIntyre; St. Monica's, Mercer Island, Rev. Anthony
Domandich; Queen of Angels, Port Angeles, Rev. Stanton Boyle;
St. Mary's, Kelso, Rev. Desmond McMahon; Holy Cross,
Tacoma, Rev. Walter Hallen, O.S.B.; St. Rite's, Tacoma, Rev.
.Tohn Mitchell; St. Mary Magdalen's, Everett, Rev. John Fal-
cone, S.S.; St. Gabriel's, Port Orchard, Rev. Gerald Moffat;
St. Louise, B e I I e v u e, Rev. Stephen Szeman; Holy Family,
Auburn, Rev. Joseph Kramis.
Lay Retreat Schedule
The Palisades VisHafion Retrea
(Mm'l Rot limmm) (Womma's Retreat House)
February 28 - March 1
St. George, Seattle St. Mark, Seattle
St. Mary, Seattle Immaculate Heart,
Sedro Woolley
St. Charles Borromeo, Tacoma
March 6-8
Our Lady of Mt. Virgin, Seattle Our Lady of Fatima, Seattle
St. Anthony, Kent St. Margaret, Seattle
St. Andrew, Sumner
Our Lady Queen of Heaven,
B. REV.
JOHN FORD S.J.
In discussion of the
contraceptive p i 1 1 one
cardinal factor is often
omitted. It is a surpris-
ing omission: The Holy
See has already authoritatively
condemned the use of the pill
as a contraceptive.
On Sept. 12, 1958, Pope Plus
XII clearly and explicitly re-
jected as immoral the con-
traceptive use of drugs, or
pills, or medicines, which "by
preventing ovulation m ake
fecundation impossible."
There can be no doubt that
he intended this teaching to be
binding in conscience. He ap-
peals to previous authoritative
documents on direct steriliza-
tion, whether permanent or
temporary.
He appeals, for instance,
to the Encyclical Casti Con-
nubii (1930), to a decree of
the Holy Office published
with papal approval (1940),
and to several of his own al-
locutions, notably the Ad.
dress to the Midwives (Oct.
29, 1951).
Of this latter address he said
the following year: "Mindful,
however, of the right and duty
of the Apostolic See to inter-
vene authoritatively, when need
arises, in moral questions, in
the address of 29th October
last we set out to enlighten
men's consciences on the prob-
lems of married life."
Furthermore, in his address
of Sept. 12, 1958, in the sec-
tion devoted to sterilization and
the sterilizing drugs, he re-
bukes moral theologians who
defend the use of sterilizing
drugs for the purpose of pre-
venting conception; says they
are in error; and threatens
their opinions with ecclesias-
tical condemnation.
"The Holy See finds itself
then," he says, "in a situation
like that of Blessed Innocent
XI, who saw himself more
than once obliged to condemn
moral theses put forward by
theologians animated by in-
discreet zeal, and a rashness
showing little discernment."
It is obvious therefore that
the Holy See, through Plus XII.
was a c t i n g authoritatively
when it condemned the con-
traceptive use of the new pills.
It is true that theologians
do not consider that such mor-
al pronouncements are pro-
posed to the faithful like an
article of faith, taught with
infallible authority. But it is
part of Catholic teaching that
even when the Pope does not
use his supreme infallible pow-
er, his authoritative pronounce-
ments call for acceptance, and
where moral matters are con-
cerned, are binding in practice
on the consciences of Catholics.
The contraceptive pill as
we know it today does not
differ in any significant way
from the pill condemned by
the Holy See.
No new medical factors have
been made known which make
its contraceptive use today
morally different from the con-
traceptive use which Plus XII
declared immoral five and one-
half years ago.
Consequently, unless and until
the Holy See gives its approv-
al to some other teaching (a
highly unlikely eventuality), no
lesser authority in the Church,
and least of all a private theo-
logian, is at liberty to teach
a different doctrine, or to free
Catholics in practice from their
obligation to accept papal teach-
ing.
This does not mean that there
is nothing left for Catholic theo-
logians to say about the pill.
Theologians are still dis-
cussing certain of its uses
to determine whether they
are really contraceptive. In
Chapter 16 of our recent book
"Marriage Questions" (Vol.
II of "Contemporary Moral
Theology," Newman Press)
Rev. Gerald Kelly and I try
to contribute to this discus-
sion by explaining some of
these possibilities.
Furthermore, there is well
founded hope that medical
science will discover soon a
pill Which will regulate
evolution with enough precision
to make the use of rhythm
secure and effective. This is
just what Plus XII hoped would
take place.
Theological journals will con-
tinue to publish the specula-
tions of moral theologians on
these problems. Some of these
speculations are merely tentat-
ive, and among the nmst re-
cent ones some are proposed
for consideration of and cor-
rection by fellow theologkms.
Such publications cannot be
considered definitive of pract-
ical, moral obligations on which
the Holy See has already given
its decision.
Catholics should realize,
too, that not only those theo-
logians who tend to enlarge
the legitimate scope of the
pill, but those who tend to
restrict it, are equally con-
cerned over the trying prob-
lems married people face to-
day.
The moral dilemmas occas-
ioned by generous married
love, generous in its self-don-
ation, generous in its fruitful-
ness, are the preoccupation of
all the theologians concerned.
Neither they nor the married
Catholics can hope to solve
dilemmas by "ignoring the
teaching of the Holy See.
Requiem Sung
For Luke Hart,
K of C Head
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (NC)--
Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart,
83, of the Knights of Columbus,
died Wednesday, Feb. 19, at St.
Raphael's Hospital which he en-
tered February 18, suffering
from a heart attack.
One of the nation's most
prominent laymen, H a r t
served as an officer of the
KofC for 45 years, including
I0 as Supreme Knight•
Under the leadership of the
Iowa-born lawyer who lived
most of his life in St. Louis,
KofC membership rose from
870,000 to 1,IS0,000 and the fra-
ternal society's insurance in
force went from $425 million to
$1.1 billion.
Hart was a leading figure in
the KofC Catholic advertising
program, sponsored microfilm-
ing of documents in the Vatican
library for 9se by U.S. scholars,
initiated a-drive to put the
words "under God" in the
pledge of allegiance to the flag
and directed efforts to finance
construction of the $1.1 million
bell tower at the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington, D.C.
Burial will be Saturday,
Feb. 22, in St. Louis after
requiem Mass there offered
by Bishop Charles Greeo, of
Alexandria, La., K of C su-
preme chaplain.
Hart will be succeeded by
John W. McDevitt, former
school superintendent of Wal-
tham, Mass., now living in New
Haven, and deputy Supreme
Valentine Wishes for Caroline
FIRST GRADERS at St. Thomas Aquinas School in students were sent to Caroline. Sister Rosaline, teacher of
Dallas, Tex., could not contain their Valentine Day wishes the class, said the youngsters wanted to express their feel-
for Caroline Kennedy. The card they made for the late ings at Christmas but decided to wait and construct the giant
President's daughter was four feet high. Too large for the Valentine.
Urban League
Director Is
Rally Speaker
Whitney M. Young Jr.. Na-
tional Urban League executive
director from New York City,
will speak at an interfaith civil
rights rally at 7:39 p.m. Sun-
day, Feb. 23, in Seattle Uni-
versity Pigott Auditorium.
The Rev. John D. Lynch of St.
James Cathedral. co-chairman
of the Seattle Conference on
Religion and Race will preside.
The Seattle conference is spon-
soring the rally.
Currently a member of the
President's Commit tees o n
Youth Employment and Equal
Opportunity in the Armed
Forces, Young is an alumnus
of Kentucky State College.
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nolgy, University of Minnesota
and Harvard University.
His teaching posts have in-
eluded being a member of the
faculties of St. Catherine's Col-
lege in St. Paul and Creighton
University in Omaha.
TV Program
To Feature
Religion School
NEW YORK (NC)--A study
of a "school of religion" as an
alternative to the traditional
parochial school will be fea-
tured on the national television
program "Directions '64: A
Catholic Perspective" February
23 at 2:30 p.m. on KOMO-TV.
Entitled "A New Catholic
Schoolhouse," the program will
focus on Assumption School of
Religion in Fairport, N.Y.,
where four nuns and a group of
parent-volunteers teach religion
to 1,000 Catholic children in a
Tacoma , Knight since 1959. • mail, a photo of the card and I e t t e r s from each of the
Seek Renewal in Church:
-Millions of Latin A-merican Families
The Bishops of the
United States are spon-
soring an organized.
e//ort to aid the Church
in Latin America. The
D Alliance for Progress is
being revamped. The
Latin American Bishops
are pushing /or an over-
all renewal o] the Church
there.
The following article,
dealing with the poverty
in the area, was written
D by the editor of Notlcias
Catolicas, Spanish lan-
guage edition of the
N.C.W.C, News Service.
BY JAIME FONSECA
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
OW POOR are Latin
Americans?
Twenty million families
half the total popula-
D tionlive on an average
of $55 a month. The more dili-
gent manage to make up to
$100.
A middle mass of 18 million
families have an income of $200
a month. , Some have earnings
of up to/$500, but not all the
time.
These families average from
rive to six members.
Next comes the big jump, to
the contrast so typical in Latin
America, between the rich and
the poor: 3 per cent of the pop-
ulation or about 1.2 million
families have an income of $800
a month, and many make as
much as $1,200.
Close to them come the top
rich, 2 per cent of the Latin
D Americans receiving about 20
per cent of the total income.
These are the 800,000 families
earning $1,600 a month or more.
These figures vary accord-
ing to countries and regions,
Feed 10 Million Latin American Children
SOME TEN MILLION school children in 15 Latin American nations are being fed by
Operation Nines in the Alliance for Progress Program, in which th U.S. Catholic Relief
ServicesN.C.W.C. participates. Children pictured are at a child-feeding station in Lima.
adorned with original paintings,
the furniture comes from Eu-
rope, and the house has the lat-
est electronic gadgets from the
United States. Don Manoel has
a large family, several ser-
vants, two ears, but otherwise
he is a frugal man, devoted to
his children, and pays fair
wages to his workers. He con-
tributes generously to church
and charity drives. His earn-
ings, he tells his guests, are at
a standstill, because of the in-
flation gripping this country.
Aside from import duties on his
luxury items, he pays little
making about $1,000 a month.
Bsides his home in an exclu-
sive neighborhood, he owns a
cottage in the countryside. His
grandparents came from Ger-
many, but he is for all practi-
cal purposes a fullblooded Sal-
vadorian. Among his customers
for modern homes and commer-
cial buildings are ,coffee grow-
ers, high government officials,
a few managers with American
or European firms and other
professional men.
I was invited to the birthday
party for Tony Fuentes in Qui-
te, Ecuador, the five-year-old
The partywas a gay, sim-
ple affair, with about 15 chil-
dren from neighboring homes.
Their Sunday clothes were
carefully mended. The furni-
ture was equally modest. Re-
men still had to put some fin-
ishing touches on the house,
bat it was pleasant. They had
saved for six years and now
had been able to put a small
down payment on it. He
makes about $40 a week. They
have three children.
There are millions of families
of skilled workers, like the
Fuentes, semi-skilled laborers
maids and their dependents,
and those street vendors that
fill the capitals of Latin Ameri-
ca. They live in slums or huts.
There is a mass of Indians
along the Andes and the Sierra
Maestro, and Negroes and rou-
lettes in sectors of Brazil and
Haiti that don!t even "belong"
to any economic group, because
they do not receive any 'cash
pay for their labors, and pro-
duce just enough to subsist.
"Five families in a hundred
consume 0 per cent of all the
goods and services, while 50
live on 20 per cent of avail-
able goods, and the other 45
consume the rest," a young
economist remarked. "In less
technical terms, the wealthy
class s p e n d s extravagant
sums to maintain its social
prestige, while large multi-
tudes live in subhuman condi-
tions, undernourished, clothed
in r a g s, ill-sheltei'ed, un-
schooled and sick."
Someone figured that the
rich family in Latin America
spends 15 times more than the
poor. In the countries of West-
ern Europe, the rich spend only
nine times as much as the
poorest.
"If we could only change the
lavish habits of the rich, we
could increase investment in
local manufacturing and farm-
ing, and raise the income of
many poor families," the econ-
omist said.
Most Latin Americans are
earnest, hard-working people.
Out of 206 million, about 58,5
per cent are economically ac-
tive and manage to produce
some $60 million worth of goods
and services a year (Americans
produce $600 billion). On the
average, the people south of the
Rio Grande are 3 times poorer
than those of Western Europe,
and 10 times poorer than U. S.
citizens.
The "whys" of so much
(Religious News Service Photo.) nearby public school.
Live on $55.00 Month
ways are expensive to build and
waterfalls for power are far
from population centers. While
rich in most minerals, "Latin
America is poor ih coal -- a
must for heavy industry.
• Agriculture: 53 per Cent of
the Latin Americans live from
the soil, yet they cannot pro-
duce e n o ugh to feed them-
selves, bring in dollar exchange
for mechanization and fertiliz-
ers, and accumulate the sav-
ings needed to capitalize for in-
dustrialization. The big "lati-
fundios" -- o f t e n worked by
share-croppers--waste soil and
manpower as the owners are
content to extract a comfort-
able profit for their immediate
needs only. Much of the burden
of earning real money falls on
the modern big plantations in
the Caribbean, Central America
and the coastal, tropical plains
of South America; they produce
coffee, bananas and sugar. The
La Plata countries sell wheat,
corn, meat and wool.
These are the raw materials,
along with petroleum and min-
erals in Venezuela, Chile and
Bolivia, that make all these
countries dangerously depend-
ent on a one-crop, one-product
economy. Any fluctuation in
world prices spells disaster.
Economists figure that 14 of
these nations lost $700 million
in one year recently as the re-
sult of a slight decline in
world prices. For instance,
coffee has dropped more than
50 per cent since 1955. The
families have seen their in-
come declining I per cent per
year since 1955.
Americans do not realize it,
but the Latins have been in a
real "depression" over the last
eight years. Food and mineral
exports in the area have faced
a decline of more than $10 bil-
lion a year in the last decade.
• Inflation: The tremendous
have suffered devaluations that
hurt most the savings and wag-
es of the poorer classes. In all,
bread, meat, bus fares and
clothing cost four times more
now than in 1953.
• People: The fact that the
163 million mouths of 1950 are
now 208 million and will be-
come 300 million by 1975 is not
helping things. Each year some
30 million new workers knock
at the doors of farms, factories,
offices and shops looking for
jobs. Only a fraction find work.
Unemployment is high. Argen-
tina, with a labor force of 7 mil-
lion, has 500,000 jobless. Vene-
zuela had 350,000 men idle a
few months ago. And this coun-
try, along with Mexico, Colom-
bia, Brazil and the countries of
Central America, are among the
areas making real economic
progress and opening more
job opportunities.
• Industrialization: M o r e
manufacturing is under way--to
diversify products, provide for
local needs and save export
dollars -- but not fast enough.
With little savings, investment
capital is scarce (with U.S.,
Western Europe and Japan sup-
plying a good deal now).
Native millionaires invest in
manufacturing only as an ex-
ception to the rule. There is
lack of skilled labor, and out-
side of Brazil, Mexica, Argen-
tine and Central America, in-
ternal markets are weak and
small. Most governments take
up industrial and trade pro-
grams because private sourc-
es cannot do it.
There is another factor in
the poverty of many Latin
Americans: they do not care to
be rich, Juan Sanchez, a mes-
tizo vendor in Taxco in south-
ern Mexico. would fold up his
tent and put aside his tourist
souvenirs promptly at five to
go home and watch from his
hill the beautiful sunset rather
than exert himself to become
rich.
but are the ones given as the taxes, son of a linotypist I had known in construction and farming, poverty andcontrastare difference in the "terms of [[mV U LllUJLJLmrl
more representative by ex- A m o n g his neighbors and for many years. Ramon, a artisans and small dealers run- many. Recent studies high. trade," the name given to the
perts of the United Nations friends are high government Young Christian Workers' lead- ning corne rstores. Most gov- light the following: deficit resulting from exporting
g o o d farm raw materials at low prices and
Economic Commission for and banking officials, a few er, is one of my best sources of ernment and white collar work- •Geography: buy'er a dryer00
Latin America. industrialists and importers information but never before ers are in this bracket, along land is scarce on the continent; importing manufactured prod-
D The figures mean tittle unless and other landed families, had he gone so far as to have , with a good number of small there are vast expanses of us- ucts at rising prices, has result-
you visit with these families. The Tejeiras have counter- me at his home. I found out independent farmers all over able soil but they are difficult ed in spiraling inflation. Using •
At See Paulo in Brazil Don parts in Mexico, Argentina, why. They had lived in a shack, the continent. They provide the to reach. Rainfall is uneven, 1O0 as representing the cost of
Manoel Tejeira gives a party Colombia and Peru, except This time Ramon and his xcife bulk of the government's bud- high ranges or deserts isolate living 10 years ago, Bolivia's
for some visiting American that their ineomes mayeome --an attractive mestizo girl-- gets through indirect taxes, communities; except for La costs have gone up 3,350 per See y'ovf e/ec[r/e 00pp/i00nCe de/er
businessmen. He is the owner from mining, cattle ranches had just moved into their new mostly on imports. Plata River, most of the big cent, Chile's 1,160 per cent,
of a large coffee plantation and or manufacturing, home, a modest house in a row At the lower level are the rivers go to the jungles or sink Brazil's 500 per cent, Argen- aun.. SEATTLE CiTY LIGHT
has substantial investments in At E1 Salvador a successful of dozens built with Alliance for farm hands, the thousands of into deserted lands. Port facili- tina's 600 per cent, Uruguay's
real estate. His mansion is architect, Eduardo Strayer, is Progress funds, unskilled city "peones," the ties are few, railroads and high. 300 per cent. The currencies
