Ten Commandments
For Teenagers
1. SToP andthinkbeforeyoudrink. All A Part
2. Don't let your parents down; they brought you up.
eCsMA:2.:vege$Ar:r:atFtfdaa:heCa:::Nrt::grres:rt:stte1 3. Be humble enough to obey. You will be giving Of God's Plan
orders yourself someday.
Rev. James H. Gandrau .............................. Editor Mary Sresnahan ............................ Associate Editor
PAGE 4 Friday, November 6, 1964
More About Less
hat role should the expert be be
theologian, philosopher, nuclear
physicist, psychologist, or sociologist play
in formulating the present draft of the
schema on "The Church in the World
Today?"
Archbishop John Carmel Heenan, 5%
of Westminster, England, and Father
Benedict Reetz, O.S.B. Superior General
of the Benedictine congregation of Beu-
ron, Germany, disagree quite radically
on the answer to this question. In criti-
cising the Commission responsible for
the preliminary draft on "The Church
and the World Today" Archbishop
Heenan contended that the document was
poorly done because the Commission had
been "... denied the help of experts who
really knew their subjects."
He went on to add: "When you
are dealing with the problems of so-
cial life yu need to consult those who
know and live in the world. Now let
me ask how many parish priests, how
many of the ]aithful, how many hus-
bands and wives, how many doctors,
economists, scientists (especially ex-
perts in bio-chemisty and nuclear phys-
ics) were at work on this Commission?
It is useless in these matters to seek
advice only from those who since their
youth have spent their lives in mon-
asteries, seminaries or universities.
These eminent men hardly know the
world as it really is."
The next day when Father Reetz, a
monk and abbot, rose to address the
Council fathers he drew a smile from the
entire assembly by beginning his speech
with these words: "I appear before you
in feat and trembling because yesterday
in this Council Hall we heard: 'It is use-
less in these matters to seek advice from
those who since their youth have spent
their lives in monasteries, seminaries or
universities. These eminent men may
hardly know the world as it really is...'"
As a monk and abbot, he said, '7
now speak with great scrupulosity and
anxiety, because 1 hardly know the
world . . . Perhaps also those forty
monks sent to England by Pope Gre-
gory the Great at the beginning of
the Seventh Century to make angels of
the Angles and one of those forty.
was Augustine who becanze the first
bishop of the Angles m perhaps they
also hardly knew the world," Father
Reetz said that flight from the world
by monks made it possible for them
better to serve the Church in the
modern world.
We believe that the Superior Gen-
eral of the Benedictine Congregation
made an excellent point. No one can
deny the value of experts in the natural
sciences. Their data must be absorbed,
understood and taken into full account
by the Council fathers in their schema
on "The Church in the World Today,"
but what about the experts in the super-
natural sciences, what about wisdom,
the ordering of all things according
to ultimate causes? It would seem
to us that those men who have
detached themselves from this world can
lend an objectivity to it in terms of
'eternal values which the modern expert
often cannot comprehend.
Someone has defined an expert as
a man who knows more and more
abbut less and less. There is an ele-
ment of truth in this rather flippant
definition. The Church's primary con-
cern is for eternal values. Therefore
wisdom and those who strive to pos-
sess it ought to be consulted first in
matters that pertain to the modern
world. Perhaps, as Archbishop Heenan
suggested, priests, members of the
faithful, husband and wives, doctors,
economists and scientists ought to have
worked on this Commission.
But it is difficult for us to admit
that those who spend their lives in
monasteries, seminaries, or universities
hardly know the world as it really is.
Future generations may look back and
say that the contemplatives of the Twen-
tieth Century alone saw substance while
the rest saw only shadows.
Birth
Control
ews reports indicate that the Ecu-
menical Council in Rome will
soon take up the subject of birth con-
trol. Whether the Fathers of the Coun-
cil come to the topi£ now or at a later
time, it is surely one they will have to deal
with. When they do, we expect that they will
reflect a rather marked change in the Catholic
attitude regarding the regulation of births, but
no change in principle.
It seems clear that the world has entered
upon an era in which human reproduction will
be a more deliberate, willed and chosen thing
than in the past. Morally acceptable means for
controlling fertility ulready exist, along with
many immoral ones. As medical science per-
fects its knowledge of the reproductive system
and how it operates, it is safe to predict that the
moral means will become steadily more re-
liable. For the sake of clarity, let us specify
that they are all based on the principle of
periodic continence.
As the technical means of regulation
fertility have developed, so have the lgitimate
reasons for using them. The death rate,
especially among infants, has dropped sharply
in the present century. Consequently popula-
tions have grown and are growing rapidly.
Individual couples now have to anticipate
raising all the children whom they bring into
the world. And they must do this in societies
whose demand for education and whose cost
of living are and will remain constantly on
the rise.
For these and other reasons--maternal health
in certain cases, for instance-the limitation of
procreation will be more and more commonly
judged as permissible. A contraceptive society
that regards fertility as a curse is a very sick
society, of course. It is also true that the world
can support many more people than it now has.
Nevertheless, a reduction in the reproduction
rate of the human race is to be expected and
can be accepted.
To a large extent, the Catholic Church has
alrdy come to accept it. This is the marked
change in attitude regarding the regulation of
births that we referred to above. But the Church
will not abandon the principle stated by Plus
XI in his encyclical Casti Connubii:
"Any use of matrimony whatsoev:er in the
exercise of which the act is deprived, b3
human interference, of its natural power to pro-
create life, is an offense egainst the law of
God and nature." Plus XI balanced this state-
ment with another: "Nor are hubsand and wife
to be accused of acting against nature if they
make use of their right in a proper and natural
manner, even though natural causes (due to cir-
cumstances of time or to certain defects) render
it impossible for new life to originate."
On these principles the Church will stand.
Theological and medical development may re-
fine them but will not reverse them. The
Catholic Church does not turn somersaults.
That she refuses to do so will disappoint
those who think that aggiornamento is the Italian
word for contraception. Their feeling is under-
standable in view of the pressing problems that
confront families and nations today. Our primary
obligation, however, is not to solve problems but
to obey God's moral law. The Church's first
duty, as she faces the problems of the modern
world, is to remind men that obedience to God
is the basic requirement of all truly human pro-
gress in this world.--America.
What Will Be The Impact?
ASHINGTON--Today, events hap-
pening anywhere in the world can
have a decided impact on the United
States.
This was the one fact that was
immediately clear after important developments
occurred in three widely separated places in
two days.
Admittedly in the dark as to their explana-
tion, their immediate implications and their
long-range portent, President Johnson took to
television to discuss with the American people
the deposition of Nikita Khrushchev as the boss
of Soviet Russia; the detonation of a nuclear de-
vice by Red China; and the change of govern-
ment in Great Britain. It was said he did so at
the suggestion of the National Security Council.
The firing of Khrushchev as Communist
party secretary and premier of Soviet Russia
received enormous press coverage, The ob-
vious concern everywhere--in captive, satellite
and free nations-was: What can we expect
,¢
now at the hands of the ROd Russians? Only
time will answer this question.
So-called Kremlinologists gave numerous and
varied explanations and interpretations, but
most of them had to be speculation. It was
clear, however, that Soviet Russia now holds a
first-rank, though feared, position among the
nations; that no .matter who the leaders are,
Soviet Communism must be dedicated to.world
domination; that, seemingly, rulers in Soviet
Russia can be replaced without too much vie.
lence.
The new regime professed to favor Lenin's
"principle of collective leadership," but ob-
servers wondered if the regime succeedifig I
Khrushebev might not prove to be provisional
and give way to a new dictatorship.
The Free World needs to know all it can
about what happened in Russia. If Khrushchev's
personality led to his ruin, it is logical to expect
that different personality will rule the Kemlin.
If his policies caused Khrushchev's .fall, then
changes in the Soviet diplomatic stance can be
on the way.
4. At the first moment turn away from unclean think-
ing--at the first moment.
5. Don't show off driving. If you want to race go to
Indianapolis.
6. Choose a date that would make a good mate.
7. Go to church faithfully. The Creator gives you the
week; give Him back an hour
8. Choose your companions carefully, You are what
they are.
9. Avoid following the crowd. Be an engine--not a
caboose.
10. Or even better--keep the original Ten Command-
ments
By REV. JOHN B. SHEERIN, C.S.P.
"'['HIS is your schema. You Americans
l
have a special interest and compe-
tence in the matter of meeting the prob-
lems of the modern world." So spoke
the Very Rev. Archimandrite Andrew
Scrima as we walked down Via Conciliazione
discussing the famous Schema 13. "Every ter-
ritory seems to have its special schema," said
this young representative of Patriarch Athena-
gores, "and Schema 13 is yours."
What is the American reaction to the
schema? Probably there are as many American
reactions as there are Americans, but I would
like to register my own personal reaction to
some of the speeches on the problems of the
modern world. I feel that 25 years from now,
many of these talks will be considered too
philosophical and theoretical in their approach.
It is true that the framers of the schema
as well as many speakers deliberately avoided
specific answers to the world's problems lest
what they say today might be outmoded tomor-
row. However, I would like to see a more con-
crete and practical appeal to Christians and all
men to collaborate in the building of a better
world.
As I see it, the central problem as far as
Catholics are concerned is that they look on
secular work as spiritually neutral or indiffer-
ent. The Rome Daily American October 22 ab-
surdly headlined its report on the previous
day's Council meeting: "Council Fathers At-
tack Commercialized Sex." This lurid bit was
based on nothing more than a passing refer-
ence in a talk by Archbishop Conway of
Armagh.
But I think the core of our problem is that
so many Catholics have commercialized work.
They feel that their daily stint has no super-
THOUGHTS .Fro" CHRISTIAN LIVING
jJ
BIRMINGHAM,
COMPILED BY
POOR CLARE NUNS ALABAMA
OME things I can remedy and improve in my daily
0 life, while others are beyond my control. After I
have done my best, I should accept the results as
God's Will for me." --Anthony Paine, S.J.
"Any saint will tell you that
he has no fear for the future of
the universe and the human
race, because he knows that
the sacramental presence of
our Lord is with us till the end
of the world, and that means
Mercy." --van Zeller, O.S.B.
"The joyfulness of the heart
is the life of a man, and a
never failing treasure of hell-
hess; and the joy of a man is
length of life." --Ecclus.
"Religion doesn't have to
make,you feel good, but it sure
has to help you sfay good."
--Rev. Gabriel Hafford
"Genuine virtue and most
perfect sanctity consist in the
perfect fulfillment--with the in-
tention of pleasing God--of all
the duties of your state, and in
giving up all devotions of your
choice, however holy, as soon
as they become incompatible
with your essential duties."
--Claude de LaColumbiere
"Nearer is He than breath-
ing, closer than hands and
feet." --St. John of the Cross
"If you keep yourself always
in the presence of God and re-
member that He is always see-
ing you, you will never lose His
love by yielding to sin." -- St.
Thomas Aquinas.
"The miser's eye is rapacious
for bread, but on his own table
he sets it stale." --Ecclus
O
"Lord Jesus, teach us to
make of our souls highways of
salvation! Let it be one-way
traffic--always towards Heav-
en." --Father Gerald, S.P.
"It is imporiant to remember
that, in everything that changes,
there must be something that is
changeless," --Bishop Sheen
"Owe no man anything except
to love one another; for he who
loves his neighbor has fulfilled
the Law." --Romans 13.8
"To be happy one must have
a friend. 'Yes, a good friend--
virtuous, amiable, rich, engag-
ing. I tried to find him. I
found him in the Friend of the
Tabernacle."
--Rev. Adolph Petit, S.J.
"Blessed is the man who
having nothing to say abstains
from giving wordy evidence of
the fact."--Eliot.
"It is better to pray often but
for a short time than to at-
tempt to "pass long hours trying
to force the mind to do what it
cannot."-.-Gerald Vann, O.P.
"A person is remembered for
the influence he has had upon
others, much more than for
the position he has risen to in
his career; and the power of
influencing others is more dan-
gerous to neglect than to use."
--van Zeller, OS.B.
"Something would be lacking
to one's experience of life, how-
ever great one's life had been,
if suffering were lacking. So
we should thank God when He
sends us t h i s experience."--
Plus XI.
"That is perfect charity by
which we love our neighbor in
God and cherish our enemy
because of God."--St. Gregory.
"Whether they will it so or
not, they are our brothers. They
shall not cease to be our broth-
ers until they cease to say 'Our
Father.' "--Pope John.
i
Readers
Write
O'Dea Memorabilia
Editor, The Progress:
It will be of some interest to
your old O'Dea alumni to get a
little bit of information about
the "vanishing Irish" at O'Dea.
Brother Lynam, who was
on the original faculty and
whose name is still blessed
among us older-timers, re-
tired this past summer. Al-
though he is only a young 80
years, he has foresworn ath-
letics and decided that he
should give place to younger
men.
Brother E. B. Wa 1 sh, the
"guy" who won handball
matches at the various summer
schools he attended, celebrat.
ed his Golden Jubilee just this
past August 15; is now restrict-
ing himself to golf but would
be happy to take on any chal-
lengers from the old days of
the early Twenties -- if anyone
is so foolish.
He's at Vancouver College (in
B.C.)
We are also reliably in-
formed that Brother Hunt has
celebrated his Golden Jubi-
lee as of this year. You your-
self informed your readers
that Brother Crumlish cele-
brated his, last year, with a
visit to old friends in Seattle.
Brother Power, not really a
native Irishman since he came
from the Maritimes, is now
stationed at a huge new high
school the Brothers have op-
ened in New Jersey.
An Alumnus
T is pretly hard to be poor in spirit if
you already are poor in fact. It is hard
to be detached from this world's goods
if you have very little to begin with.
Involuntary poverty can be made
meritorious, of course, if it is borne with pa-
tience and with resignation to God's will. How-
ever, there is no essential virtue in the state of
penury itself. It .certainly is God's plan that
every person and every family should possess
enough of the world's goods to live in the de-
cency which befits human dignity.
It is quite obvious that when. Jesus pro-
nounced the first of His eight Beatitudes,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven," he was aiming his words
at the haves, not the have-nots. He was warn-
ing of the danger to which the prosperous person
always is exposed: the danger of making mate-
rial possessions an end in themselves.
Covetousness seems to be a weakness
which, like a dormant virus, is imbedded in
us all. A bit of prosperity quickly activates
the virus and triggers the fever of acquisi-
tiveness.
The more we 'have, the more we want. Our
possessions never are able to keep up with our
desires. As income increases, we keep raising
our sights: a better car, a more modern home,
a bigger.boat, a finer TV set, a more expensive
natural value and so they work for the dollar.
This then, in my opinion, is the problem: how
to persuade the typist that her Remington is an
altar in the sense that she serves God by doing
her typing to the utmost of her ability?
Usually the Catholic typist feels that she has
really done something for the salvation of her
soul if she slips into a nearby church for a quick
visit or a novena service. She feels that there is
something holy about a church but something
"unsacred" about an office.
The Rev. Ives Congar speaks about the
Christian who feels isolated in his daily life.
"He is like a soldier parachuted into battle:
there he is, he looks about, and he cannot nee
a comrade nearer than seven or eight hundred
yards away, out of earshot." The typist who
does her work mechanically while her re-
ligious life is "churchly" is like a parachutist
in foreign territory.
The typistl of course, is a symbol of all
Catholics who fail to sanctify themselves through
their daily work, especially those who feel that
the only ultimate meaning of work, is salary. I
was disappointed, therefore, in the very vague
and abstract approaches of some Council speech-
es to this central problem. "Terrestrial values,"
"flight from the world," "univocally and formal-
ly in the perspectives of the world, but analogi-
cally and eminently in the perspectives of the
Church." These terms seem altogether too gen-
eral for the task of describing a very real, down-
to-earth problem.
There were nevertheless many Council
speeches that did come to close grips with this
problem of a Christian approach to secular
work. I have in mind for instance Cardinal
Meyer's on October 20 in which he said that we
must make men realize that their daily work is
an essential part of the plan of salvation. Rather
than teach them to fear contagion from the
world, said the Cardinal, we must show how the
whole material world is part of God's plan and
that both body and soul are to be freed from
the slavery of sin.
Blessed Are
Poor In Spirit
By REV. LEO J. TRESE
fur--and so on through the endless list of con-
sumer goods.
Just as there is no essential virtue in the
mere fact of poverty, so also there is no essen-
tial evil in the mere fact of possessions. One can
be in quite comfortable circumstances and still
be poor in spirit. However, our spirit of poverty
does not always keep pace with our economic
betterment.
For example, here is a man who, when he
was making five tfiousand a year, gave ten per
cent of his income to God and neighbor, in one
way or another. Now he is making ten thousand
a year and one would expect that, out of his
additional five thousand, he could give much
more than ten per cent to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, aid the sick and instruct the
ignorant.
But no; he has elevated himself to a higher
standard of living which eats up most of that
additional five thousand dollars. He finds him-
self hard pressed to surrender even ten per
cent of his additional income.
There are many persons, such as pensioners
and unskilled workers, who are not participating
in today's economic upsurge. Most of us, how-
ever, are enjoying a considerable degree of af-
fluence as measured by income in times past.
Because of that affluence, we have a critical
need to meditate upon the first Beatitude.
Post.Election Calm
By J.J.
ASHINGTON--The United States
has just conducted the 30th na-
tional election held on a common vot-
ing day. Now, as after every election
Americans have set about smoothing
down the feathers ruffled in pre-election cam-
paigns.
In every national campaign, it seems,
there is a certain amount of intemperance in
speech and accusation. Some of the things
historians tell us about the antics of 150, 100 and
50 years ago shock us today.
An Act of Congress of Jan. 23, 1845, called
• for "a uniform time for holding elections
for electors of President and Vice President in
all the States of the Union." The first uniform
election was held on Nov. 7, 1848.
Before that, each state fixed its own date,
but elections were held at least 34 days before
the Monday after the second Wednesday in
December, the day lresidential electors met in
their respective states. The earlier variance in
dates produced some abuses, including the
practice of some unscrupulous persons living
near state borderlines to vote in one state on
one election day and in another state on
another. Travel being what it was at the time,
it was felt this practice would be thwarted if all
states held elections on the same day. ,
When it came time to fix the uniform voting
Gilbert
date under the Act of 1845 there was more
debate. It was proposed to make it a Sunday,
as it was a non-work day, theoretically at least,
and would insure the biggest voter turnout. Be-
sides, elections in Europe were generally held
on Sunday. This was opposed from several
angles. Some held it would violate the Sabbath;
others wanted no part of anything smacking of
Europe.
Some writers have said that "native Amer-
ican" and "patriotic" associations, flourishing
at the time, opposed the Sunday date because
they feared it would benefit Catholics, whom
they were striving to keep from office and in.
fluence. At any rate, in 1844, the year that
Congress began to wrestle with the chore of
fixing a uniform election date, "native Amer-
ican" mobs attacked Catholic churches in,
Philadelphia and burned at least two of them
to the ground.
When Sunday could not be agreed upon,
Monday was suggested as the day. This too
was opposed, for one reason because it was
belived many people would have to travel on
Sunday in order to vote on Monday. This again
was said to violate the Sabbath. :'"
So, it was established that the ;'Tuesday
after the first Monday in November" should be
the common electron day every fourth year.
This insures a date not later than November 8.
t
