RELIGION IN' THE MA-RKET PLACE?
The ANCHOR
© 1959 The Anchor The Most Reverend Bishop has called mon the faithful of the Diocese and others of similar traditions "to stand for what we reverence and keep the'Lord's Day holy," in statement published below. The Bishop said that "it is high time to say a word about Sunday observance and the growing tendency to slight it by making Sunday 'Just another day.''' The Bishop states that this, is no matter of dictating to others .what they . should dQ, but rather, a "problem of safe-guarding what has been and ought to be a sacred There has been strong presThe Bishop's statement calls institution.",
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And he points out 'that it would sure in recent weeks to over- ',for religion to be articulate and be a shame, to' allow those who ·throw the Sunday laws regardto find public assertion as it does seek' a hasty and -surreptitious ing sales and to weaken them to when Sunday is kept with .due profit by selling on Sunday to a point where there will be "bus- r~verence. Unless this is done, An Anchor of the Soul, Surs and fi"irm-ST. PAUL get away with it. To those people iness as usual." Men and women he, says, religion is lost and God the Bishop' says, 'ilt would' be '.' of all faiths have seen this as is lost and all, is; lost. weakness in faith arid in con-' another sign of the infiltration for any of us to fail of ,materialism into society and' The Bishop asks ·that God be River, Mass. Thursday, July 2, 195~ victions given His due and that the marto act in the knowledge that have insisted that the Lord's ket-place be not allowed to in-3 .... '27 ,lIeeoa" .Ct... M.i1 Prjyil~.. PRICE 10e we too are free; and that we Day be kep . holy according to terfere ~ith th,e service of God. thorluol .t '.11' Ri9ft. $4.00 '"' ,_ have. a right to trade where we their. convictions and the tradi. please.'" tions of th~ 'country and state. ' The Bishop's Statement: J
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I think it is high time t~ say. a' war,d, about Sunday observa~ce and th,egrowing tende_ncy to-slight it liy making Sunday .~'j~.t ano~her , day'""'.. . Weare Christian people. We ho've .grown up in the: belief that religion leads up: to: knowledge,lov.e and service of God. We 'em);. ~sed to thinki~g of Sunday as the lord's'Ody ";'h~n' there .should l:ie none but necessarylaboi to which we are bound by the demands of charity and consideration for a neighbor's unexpected want. Traditionally, and through conviction. we have joined with one another i~ acts of · public worship. But,' more than that, we have' tried to keep holy the entire day, keeping it. in the consciousness that it is good for man to take time off, not merely for. rest and relax· Qtion, but to' adjust his ideals 'and habi'ts so as 'to keep right with God and his fellow-men~ The late John Foster Dulles, a man of deep and' active faith, regretted that' in' his. latter d~ys he'h~d not the time to throw off the bu~ 'l'HERE IS NONE BETTER: Bishop Connolly (second den of responsibility and anxiety and to confrom left) and, Auxiliary Bishop Gerrard (extreme right) sider':-"contemplate," was the word he usedgreet t~e incoming Fr~shman Class' of the new Bishop Stang 'the problems and the opportunities that he met High School , .in Dartmouth at the Kennedy Youth Center, · with, and, put them in p'roper relationship,' not New Bedford. Father Edward J. G6rman, diocesan school ~ione W:ith edch other, but with a view to their superintendent, (left) and .Sister Anne Depise,' principal, also addressed the prospective first year student body. The 'i~port. Du'lles was a, church:goer. He reCogfacilities at Bishop Stang are the best in modern secondary nized his obligations to God. To him as to.oll true Christians, Sunday was a day to be set educa,tion in the East., apart for paying heed and giving thankful recognition to the lord and Master of the univers~. But he cherishished also the chance to keep his spiritual house in order and think of the higher and' nobler things' of life. ,
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, Members 'of the pioneer freshman Class .of' Bishop Stang High~chool, North Dartm~uth, were greeted· by !\fost Reverend James L. Connolly, Bishop of 'Fall River; Mo~t Rev. James J. Gerrard, Auxiliary Bishop ;and Rev. Edward J. Gorman, Dioces" He,..explained that tne' campus an Sup e,r i n ten den t of comprises five buildings. A conSchools, at an assembly at·, vent, four stories high;' will Kennedy Center, New Bed- accommodate 36 Sisters; a chapel ford.
The future students also met their principal, Sister Anne Denise of the Sisters· of Notre Dame . de Nam.ur; an~ Sister A~nes MarguerIte, . regIonal supervisor of schoo~s for the Notre Dame commumty. Father Gorman described the plant of the high school to the students. "Wait until you see your new school," he said. "You'll be proud that you are entering." ,
will . serve' both Sisters and students. . The academic building is three stories, including 24 classrooms. Four science laboratories for general sciences, biology, physics <:> and chemistry, are', completely equipped. There are three commercial rooms, and art and ,homemaking studios. Offices include a principal's office, counselor's room and chaplain's office. . A sep\lrate ,administration Turn to Page Five
Far . '!Iany now6days~ the observance of Sunday is limited to a respeCtful nod and an air of. re·spectability. Others, and I'wish they :.ver. a majori,ty, carryon in the best traditic:m, seeing Sunday.-as it was meant to be and as it he;:'s been until recently-a day to ~ kept holy. without servile work,· and not marred by "business as usual" signs.
But; there are those•. and their number i. growing,' wl1b se~m set on Qffront,ing our convictions -and our Christian traditions, in the name of individual liberty ci~d the. chance to 'make a hasty•. surreptitio~~ profit ;by ·reason of neglect or seeming ,indif,ference on our part. . It would be a shame to let. them get away with it. It would' be . weak'ness _in faith and weariness. in conviction for any of us to fail to act in the knowledge that we too are free. and that we have a right to trade where we please. Religion has a right to be in the market-' place, guiding the morality, and upholding the standards of those that honor the Day of the.. lord. It should be articulate in the Church. a~d in the community. Unless it finds publiC assertion a'nd steady expression it can readily be lost. And when religion 'is .lost, God is lost. And when God is lost, all is lost. . Our problem then is with the difficulty. and certainly the impossibility; of serving Mam-. mon and, God at one arid the sam'e time, when every human weakness draws us in the diree. tion of material values, and little is done to safegua~d 'the service' 'and reverence due the lord, not' e~en on Sundays. We must then stir up our own convictions, give full expression to our religious life, in the first place. W. should rec.ogn'ize .that the tumult of the market-place should, not find expression at G'" time when in good conscience and with honest ,. hearts we ought to give the Good God His due. This is no matter of dictation to another. It is rather a problem of safeguarding what has. been' and ought to be a sacred institution. It should not be summed up in the phrase "don~t let them do this to. you"-but, rather "don't do such a serious harm to yourselves." 'let us aH stand for what we reverence and kee~ the lord's Day holy.
Cardinal Hits Court Sunday Ruling ._ BOSTON· (NC)-A Federal court decision which holds the Massachusetts Sunday closing law is unconstitutional has been criticized by .His Eminence Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston. The 2-to-1 court decision deals with the Crown Kosher Market of Springfield. The market which closed on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, had been convict.ed of ·vioHowever, the Federal court lating .the ,state law regulating has reversed the decision, chargSunday closing,. Both the convic- I ing that compulsory Sunday tilin and constitutfonality of the closing laws violate the Federal Sunday law were upheld by the Constitution. Supreme Judicial Court of 'MasCardinal Cushing, taking note sachusetts last November. ' o f the ,court's decision, said:
"I th'ink we all, have been shocked to learn that, in the minds of' many modern statesmen and jurists, Sunday has lost its religious significance and has thus lost the right to proTurn to Page Eighteen
Our New Pope •• _Seminarian Becomes Soldier "'155'S'S:"
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