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"Why are you fearful, 0 ye of little Faith. H St. Matthew 8 :26 Beloved in Christ, The words above were spoken by Our Lord to the Apostles; They also apply to us here~ Like the Twelve, we are caught in the sea of uncertainty, fearful for our way of life, and indeed, fearful for our lives. But. the path to safety for us as well as the first followers of Christ remains the same. We must be strong in Faith. We must prove what we profess by the way we think and act. "This ig the victory that overcomes the world, your Faith." (1st St. John 5 :4) Proof for this rule is readily had. Holy writ endorses it: "As a man thinks himself in his heart, so is he. History supports it in the record of great deeds and conquests made by people that believed. in their destiny. But no more than the record of Christianity need be cited to show that heights were reached by men and women who lived by faith, and that failure inevitably came to those whose faith in God wavered or stayed' weak. Such too; is our story. We all'h~we moment$ of greatness. Faith has swayed' us many times. At F.irst Communion certainly, or when.we.have been witness<to some work of Divine .Providence. We have learned from the . faith of others. We have been lifted up by sharing in 'some great service of God, proving,our love for Him by. 'What we do to make this world a better place to' live, in. But these moments, unfortunately," h~ve not been constant.,
HIGH SCHOOL RETREAT: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Chairmen prepare for mid-Winter vacation retreats for teen-agers of Holy Trinity parish, West Harwich and Holy Redeemer, Chatham. Left to right, Rev. Francis Coady, retreat master; Mrs. Arthur LeFrenier, chairman of teachers; Mrs. Joseph Galizio, chairman of helpers; Sister Dolores, O.L.V.M., supervisor of High School of Religion. Girls attended exercises at Chatham, boys went to La Salette Seminary, Brewster.
law Expert Supports
Limited School Aid
It
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Pre-Council Group Treats Many Church Life Aspects
ANN ARBOR (NC)-Substantial arguments can be made to support the constitutionality of limited Federal aid to parochial schlols, a University of Michigan expert on constitutional law said here. A respectable body of opinion supports this view as being in line with Supreme Court rulings and historically sanctioned practices. Paul G. Kauper told a university speech ~s- should not be confused with the sembly. The professor mam- merits of Federal aid to educa~ tained that "the problems we tion. as a matter of public policy. are concerned with are prob- The. decisio,ns on polic~ consid-
Ministers Agree Mixed,Marriages Threat.to· Faith
ST. LOUIS· (NC)-Cathone and' Protestant church· leaders agree that both partners in mixed' marriages tend to drift' away from their respective religions, the National Council of Churches' Division of Christian Education was told here. . "Without doubt the number of mixed religious marriages is in. creasing," said the Rev. Dr. William H. Genne, director of the NCC Department of Family Turn to Page Eighteen
VATICAN CITY (NC)~lncreased authority for bishops and the status of secular institutes were among topics discussed by the fourth series of meetings of the Central Preparatory Commission for the coming Vatican Council. , The discussions centered on all aspects of the eccles- Dio~esan P,iesf Slta,es iastical life of the Church. The meetings were attended by 39 cardinals and other bigh Church officials. . His Holiness Pope John X~III attended the first day of meetIngS and welcomed the presence of Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, Primate of Poland. After the Pope left the meeting, Benedetto Cardinal Aloisi Masella, president of the Preparatory Commission fpr Bishops and the Government of Dioceses, led the discussion of two proposals. Although the decisions of the commission remain secret, it was known that the proposals concerned the size of dioceses and the establishment of national conferences of bishops. Many dioceses, especially in Europe, do not correspond to present demands in that they are either so large as to be unwieldly or too small to function effectively. On the second day Cardinal Aloisi 1l.'Iasella read two other reports, These dealt with the relations between bishops and the offices of the Roman Curia-the . Holy See's central administ~ation - and the relation between bishops and pastors within their jurisdictions. The offices of the curia are .-!=. Turn to Page Eighteen
Experience:
lems of degre'e and problems that must be answered by reference 10a variety· of considerations, rather than by invocation of some absolutist principle of separation of Church and State." He cautioned that the question
Catholic Laity Responsible For Church Schools' Future PHILADELPHIA (NC) - A priest-political scientist charged here that future historians will hold today's Catholic laity responsible if the nation's church-related schools are lost. Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., a Marquette University political scientist, speaking in a Convent of the Sacred Heart lecture series here, scored the passivity of
Padre Pio· 'Meeting" Impressive Stigmatized Monk· Radiates Love, Obedience By' Rev. It was a quiet September morning in the year 1918. In the choir of the monastery chapel in the poverty-stricken Italian town of San Giovanni Rotondo a young, beared Francisoan monk knelt in prayer. Suddenly a cry of pain shattered the silence and the priest fell to the ground. Moments later his fellow-monks found him there, prostate before a crucifix, with strange bleeding wounds in his hands and feet and side. For Padre Pio the hidden life of a monk had abruptly ended; he had been swept into history as one of the few men to bear on ,his body the bleeding wounds of Christ, the Stigmata. I have just returned from a trIp to San Giovanni Rotondo. 'Ilhere I met Padre Pio, saw him say Mass, and listen,ed to the many stories that are told about him. This brief account is by way of sharing that 'experience with you.
Edward J. Mitcheil
A word of caution must be voiced at the very start. The
REV. EDWARD J. MITCHELL
eratlOns belong to Congress, be noted. , .From a constitutional standpoint, Kauper said: "'Ilhe ITlost pervasive and comprehensive source of power in Turn to Page Eighteen
Catholic Church has taken no official stand on the stigmata of Padre Pio, nor of the miracles 'attributed to him, nor on his reputed bi-Iooations (being several places at the same time). The attitude of the Church has rather been one of caution, a " let's-wait-and-see " approach. Because of the sometimes-excessive enthusiasm of the followers of Padre. Pio, the Holy See has several times curbed his activities. His obedience in each of these instances was quick and complete. We rose at four o'clock in the morning in order to attend his Mass. It lasted one hour. Although the Mass itself moved along at a regular pace, he paused at several places for long moments of prayer, especially at the mementos of the living and the dead and the consecration. To hide the stigmata in his hands from the morbidly curiTurn to Page Four
American Catholics. "Their refusal to organize with Protestants and Jews for participation in the democratic processes may well make the collapse of religious education inevitable," the Jes,-!it educator stated. Any program 'of Federal aid for public schools only would violate the basic civil rights which the Constitution defends, Father Blum said. "The crisis is not so much in classroom shortages and low teachers' salaries, as in the resolution of the question: who shall control the minds of our children?" Father Blum said. "In America we see that parents in increasing numbers are being forced to surrender the control of their children's education," he said. "The cost of education has increased more than 700 per cent since 1940. As the cost of government increases and the cost of education skyrockets, an increasing proportion of parents will be compelled to surrender control over the minds of their children to the state. "There is every indication," Father Blum said, "that this parental surrender will become Turn to Page Eighteen