THE ANCHOR-
Blessed Is He Who Comes' In the Name of the Lord
Thurs., April 1, 1971
Urges Christians Fight· Injustice
When I was little, I loved Palm Sunday ... 'not for a particularly spiritual reason. I just liked getting the palm. We got whole -handsful and when we brought it home, my mother always helped us make "palm cones." If you've never seen one, I can't tell you exactly how der if there is a canon law that you make them. I always states how loudly a mother can snap her fingers durhad to start about six times, decently. ing Mass.
because it never went quite right. But. when it's all done, you have four strands folded and braided into a pyramid shape that's most attractive, and tucks neatly over the corner of a mirror.
But as she left the church, she :was triumphant. She had more than anybody. She climbed into the car, delighted with her accomplishment, and carefully spread out all the palm on the seat. As one of her brothers vaulted in, she panicked. "Don't sit on my weeds! Don't sit on my weeds!" Watch Those Weeds
By MARY
CARSON
Being one to carryon family traditions, as soon as my children could learn, I started teaching them. Funny. I still had to start over half a dozen times till I got it right. But they soon learned, and proudly made cones for their rooms. Last Summer' we visited the Museum of Natural History and one of the children was intently studying a glass showcase of "Relics of the Ancient Incas." All of,· a,. sudden.'"his face lit up,· and he carrie running to me.' "Mommy. Mommy! The Indians made palm cones just like we do. I saw them, over there. Just like the ones you taught us to make. Did you teach them, too, Mommy?" I wondered just how old he thought I was ... but decided I really didn't want to know.. I ignored the remark. and just praised his powers' of observation. One Skinny Strip
Obviously she had a lot to learn about Palm Sunday's significance. And I couldn't help wondering. how much I understand of its real meaning. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." When I hear that, somehow I immediate- . Iy think only of Christ riding into Jerusalem. But if all who come in the name of the Lord are blessed, it includes an awful lot of people. It includes every single one of us ... for all time. even that little imp crawling under the pews. But what about those who preach and practice violence in His name? Can we say they are acting "in' the name of the Lord"? What makes the difference b~ tween a prophet and a fanatlc? It's hard to tell.' but surely this Palm Sunday will be a good day to pray for guidance. for ourselves and for our leaders. All of us ... the best and the worst. .. are made in the imag~ of the Lord; we, come in the name of the Lord. Let's keep aware of it. year round, instead of only on Palm Sunday. Thomas Merton explained it: "His one Image is in us all, and we discover Him by discovering the likeness of His image in one another." .
Sometimes, their enthusiasm for palm gets a little out of Urges Japanese Work hand. One year we had quite a' gang of the kids at a Palm Sun- For World Betterment VATICAN CITY (NC)-Pope day Mass. Of' course. the first one in was seventh from the end Paul VI urged a group of Japanwhere palm was being distrib- ese university students to "work uted. By the time the handful devotedly to heal the ailments reached her, there was only one of the world through the mediskinny little strip left. Her first cine of love." disappointment quickly faded. The Pope received the stuShe brightened, and I innocently dents of Keio University' in' Tothought that she guessed we kyO at the Vatican and recalled would share all the palm when that the first Japanese eve'r to' we got home. ' visit a Pope was Tsunena~a One of the kids on my left was Kasekura, who was received by trying to tickle -the back of the Pope Paul V in 1615. neck of a man sitting in front Speaking in English, the Pope of him. In stopping that rion- told more than 100 visitors: sense. I momentarily forgot the "You know how. during his little one with the scrawney mortal life. Christ c.ured bodily piece of palm. Being tiny, she illness as a sign of. his mission observed that many bits of palm of healing the sicknesses of fell to the floor. man's inner being, Down on 'her ha'nas and knees, "He came that men might have she was scurrying under all the lifer and have it to the full. We pews gathering the fragments. It pray that you and the other. uniwas easy to keep track of her versity students of Japan and all progress by the startled jump 'other countries will work defrom adults suddenly discovering votedly to heal the ailments of a two-year-old crawling out be- . the wo,rld through the medicine tween their feet. of love. That is what the human Intent on her task, she nev~r family is' so greatly jn need of. even noticed me trying to "quiet- That is what it hopes to receive ly" attract her attention. I won- from the rising generation."
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WASHINGTON (NC) - The committee on international affairs. United States Catholic Conference. ~mderscored obligations of all Christians to banish racial discrimination. especially in South 'Africa, and outlined a broad three-front base of policies to accomplish the objective. 0
LAETARE MEDALISTS: Drama critic Walter Kerr and his playwright wife, Jean, have been named for the Laetare Medal, annual award by Notre Dame University . to outstanding Catholics. NC Photo.
Notre Dame's 1971 Laetare Medal Awarded to' Walter and Jean Kerr NOTRE DAME (NC)-Drama critic Walter K. Kerr and his playwright-author wife, Jein, were named for the 1971 Laetare Medal, awarded annually . since 1883 by the University of Norte Dame to outstanding American Catholics. Holy Cross Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, university presi, dent, said arrangements are he· ing made for' presentation of the award at a later date. The medal, first awarded to Catholic historian .John' Gilmary Shea in 188:3. takes its name fro.m the day on which the recipient is announced-Laetare Sunday. The Kerrs are the second husband-wife team named for the honor. The other couple, Mr. a'nd Mrs. 'Patrick F. Crowley of Chicago, .founders of the Christian Family Movement; 'received the honor in 1966. "In honoring Walter and Jean Kerr. we are honoring literary craftsmanship. a quality less and less evident in contemporary society," Father Hesburgh said. He said Walter Kerr's "sensitive. well-honed criticism has chronicled more .than two dec~ ades in 'the life of that per-' petual-yet somehow spry-invalid known as .the American theater" and had provided "a badly needed benchmark for dramatic performance in a time of rapid change" in the theater. "It would be a mistake, however, to rate his achievement . above that of his wife on 'the grounds that she merely tried -successfuliy-to make people laugh;" Father Hesburgh added. Kerr. 57: a native of Evan-
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stan, m., after earning his bachelor and master degrees at Northwestern University, joined the (acuity. of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1938 as an instructor in its Spt'('ch and drama school. Ht' rema ined until 1949. Ht' st'f\'t'd as drama critic (1950· 5:!) of. Commonweal Q1agazine; (19:'i2-HH) of the now defunct New York Herald Tribune and, since 1966. drama critic of The New York Times. Adapted 'Bernadette' Mrs. Kerr" the former Jean Collins of Sctanton, Pa.. came to Catholic University as a student. The Kerrs were married in 1943. two years before she received her degree from the university. They collaborated in adapting for the stage Franz Werfel's . book "The Song of Bernadette.... "Jenny Kissed Me," "Touch and Go," and "Goldie locks." Kerr wrote two plays, "Sing Out. Sweet Land. '] and "Touch and Go," plus seven books. Mrs. Kerr's books include "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" which was adapted into a successful TV series; "The Snake Has All the Lines." and "Penny Candy." Her works for the stage include "Mary. Mary" and "Poor Richard." The Kerrs reside in Larchmont Manor, N.Y., have five sons and one daughter.
A committee statement. issued by Msgr. Marvin Bordelon, . director of the USCC international affairs department, was . released for the observance of International Day to Combat Racial Discrimination. The observance was initiated by the United Nations to commemorate the 1960 Sharpsville Massacre when Republic of South Africa police killed 69 and wounded 180 unarmed Africans who were protesting peacefully against laws restricting their freedom of movement within their own country. The usce statement called the ohserva nce "an apt occasi~n publicly to e·xamine our moral posture regarding t he situation of soutlH'rn Africa and to ask if we have becn guilty of silent complicity with an immoral socio·political situation." The statement acknowledged that while the U.S. is not "free of racism," American Christians "have a mandate to reform our attitudes and take positive steps" to correct the injustice in this country and' elsewhere.
Fewer Ordinations THE HAGUE (NC)-The number of ordinations to the priesthood in the Netherlands dropped from 110 in 1969 to 48 in 1970. :1 report released here March 25 said. ' In 1950, the report said, there were 325 ordinations. . The report released by KASKI. the Dutch National Catholic Institute for Socia-religious Research. is entitled "The Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands."
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