The Jeffersonian (Jefferson, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 3, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 1, 1949 Page: 2 of 8
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PAGE TWO
THE JEFFERSON I AN
NOVEMBER, 1949
THE JEFFERSONIAN
REV. JOHN G. O'HOURKE, EOITOR
"THE HISTORIC CHURCH FOR AN HISTORIC TOWN"
Entered in the post office at Jefferson, Texas as second class of
mail matter January 24, 11HD, under the act of March a, 1879. The
subscription rate to TUB JEFFIdltSONlAN, which is published
monthly, is one dollar per year. Address all communications to THIS
JEFFERSONIAN, box 70"i, Jefferson, Texas. Editor's phone, Marshall
5283.
ASSISTANT EDITOR Ethel Swltz
STAFF ... Margaret Ramsay, Mamie Hatldon, Grace
Switz, Billy Watson, Katharine Perot, Mildred Meyer, Katherine Wise
THE JEFFERSONIAN humbly intends to carry out the mandate of
Our Divine Lord: "Going, therefore, make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and oi' the Son and of
the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you." Its only purpose is to serve the HISTORIC CHURCH of the
Christian ages to whom the DIVINE FOUNDER spake these words
of sacred promise: "Behold I am with YOU ail days even unto yie
consummation of the world."
Reverently dedicating all its efforts to Mary, the Mother of Our
Lord, THE JEFFERSON I AN asks her to use her motherly power to
help us achieve our objective, namely, bringing a knowledge pf Christ
and the one, true Church He founded into the pine woods, wide open
bpaces and cactus land of Texas. ,
i stand here today believing
that religious training is absolute-
ly necessary to rear boys and
girls to be good citizens and use-
ful members of the community.
Honorable Thomas Marshall, then
governor of Indiana, later vice-
president of the United States,
speaking at a parochial school
dcdlcallon.
There is absolute truth and log-
ic in the position taken by the
Catholic church, that an Individ-
ual who embraces communism
declares war upon all religious
faith and upon the concept of all
men being united in brotherhood,
as the children of God. The San
ta 'Monica Calif. Evening Out-
look.
BAPTIST MINISTER'S
LETTER HITS PSEUDO
CHURCH-STATE ISSUE
New Vork -Protestant ministers
who raise the "pseudo" issue of
the Church and State are "drag-
ging the red herring across the
tiail" in an attempt lo make
Catholicism appear as our coun-
try's greatest enemy with the re-
sult that they are blinding people
to the real menace, Russian Com-
munism.
This charge was made in an
excellent letter published over a
year ago in the Dallas Morning
News from the pen of a well-
known Dallas minister of the Bap-
tist faith. Rev. Luther C. Peak.
The letter Is one of many con-
tained In the recently published
volume, "We The People—The
Yearbook of American Opinion."
Rev. Peak's letter is published
ou page 427 of the current vol-
ume. By coincidence on the page
opposite it appears another let- i
ter from another Texan, the edi
tor of this paper.
Murder in Bolivia—
(Continued from page 1)
Letters appearing in the vol-1
ume are selected from the read-
ers' forums of our nation's news-
papers.
The text of the Baptist minis-,
ter's letter, still of current in-1
terest, follows:
The action of live Protestant:
clergymen iu forming an organi-
zation to 'be known as Protestants
The Evil At Yalta
"Ten years of agression from
without could have been slowly
repaired, but the rash allied be-
trayal of the recognized govern-
ment at Yalta, which resulted in
■vcniitins and arming a hitherto
insi ificant horde of communist,
suddenly presented China with a
and Other Americans United for formidable enemy within the coun-
Separation of Church and State:
as reported by the Associated
Press, is dragging the red her-
ring across the trail It is an ef-
fort to raise a pseudo issue of
try. Thus were communists in Chi-
na. formerly discredited as a band
of mountain outlaws, baptized In-
to respectability. The moral ef-
fect on a friendly nation was dis-
the union of church and state, in i astrous."—Bishop Francis X. Ford
order to THROW the American, Catholic missionary'bishop in Chi-
people off the track, in their na.
thinking, as to the menace of |
Russia and of Communism, to the
peace of the world.
The action of these five clergy-
men, in ATTACKING THE CATH
OLIC CHURCH, on the issue of
union of Church and state, is
PART AND PARCEL OF THE
OVER-ALL PROGRAM of the
Communistic ultra-liberal leader-
ship of American Protestantism,
to propagandize for the Commun-
istic system on the one hand, and
to STRIKE at all opposers of the
Red program on the other, and
IN THIS INSTANCE, THE RO-
MAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Movie On Nuns—
(Continued from page 1)
Children and the Third Commandment
Speaking on a nation wide broadcast with President Truman,
Crooner Ming Crosby recently passed out some exceptionally good
advice.
Papas and momas, he said, il they want children to grow up
with some religious training, are going to have to start keeping the
Third Commandment themselves,
"No more of this dumping our kids off at Sunday school
while we slip off to the beach," said the famous actor. He added
that parents must set the example of the standards that every Am-
erican wants his or her children (o live by.
Participating In a special broadcast on the need of more
religion iu American life, Crosby, Roman Catholic joined Truman,
a Baptist, in appealing for a return 'o family religious life with papas
and momas leading all the children to church on Sunday morning,
The Third Commandment of God says, "Remember thou keep
holy the Sabbath Day."
When the Divine Lawgiver directed Moses to write this sac-
red command down on the tablet ol' slone. He did not speak thus:
"Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day unless God has blessed
you with a family ol children."
For a great many hundreds of years in its almost 2,000 year
history the Catholic Church has placed special emphasis on the di-
vine law of keeping holy the Sabbath. Of her o n six command-
ments the Church places this one first: "A Catholic Is obliged to
assist at Mass o nail Sunday's and holy days of obligation."
"A Catholic", says the official Baltimore catechism No. '2,
"who THROUGH HIS OWN FAULT misses Mass on a Sunday or
holy day of obligation commits a mortal sin."
The same catechism defines a mortal sin thus: "Mortal sin
)s a grievous oifence against the law of God."
The Catholic Church then is definitely interested in getting
people to keep God's Third Commandment. And most thoughtful
people will agree with her that the 'best way to keep holy the Sab-
bath Day is to go to church.
Even those who reject ihe idea of a Church being estab-
lished by Christ with Ills own authority to govern and rule are in
favor of folkks going to church .lust because "it's the best thing to do."
For some modern parents Ihe children that God gave them
are the reasons why they can't get to Mass or to their particular
church service oil Sunday. Their family is the obstacle between
them and the practice of religion Bemuse of their family they de-
prive themselves of the unices of attending Mass and In turn their
children ate deprived of what President Truman and Ring Crosby
said was so essential for them, namely, religious education.
For the 2,000 year history of the Church Our Lord founded
children have never been considered a valid reason for parents
missing Mass on Sunday and neglecting their religious duties. Ex-
ceptions. of course, are understandable when a child is sick or
newly-born,
ltdbit>s that are old enough lo be carried to see friends are
old enough to be carried to church if lo take care of baby means to
miss chinch. Their habv cries have ever been considered by the
Church as sweet music to the ears of her Divine Founder, noted
as He was as a lover id' children.
For Catholics the Commandment of God. "Keep holy the
Sabbath Day." is binding in conscience. For them the way point-
ed out by God's Church to Keep that Commandment Is by assisting
at Mass The family that (Jod gives should not prevent them from
attending to this serious obligation.
America needs to see more families in church on Sunday.
With the President of the United States we agree that the promo-
tion of that goal is a bis step in the direction of world peace.
c. I i c church sanctioned and
brought about the minder.
"TIME'S" ACCOUNT
"Time" states: "Bolivia's Ro-
man Catholic clergy tends to re-
paid such activity (namely, con-
verting Catholics to Protestant-
ism) as an intrusion into its vine-
yard. Many an Indian miner has
been told that the Protestants
are "messengers o f the devil":
more sophisticated Bolivians have
been warned that the evangelistas
are advance agents of yankee
imperialsum. From the sowing of
such seed came evil fruit last
week."
A WRONG IMPRESSION
Then "Time" reports the mur-
der, leaving the impression that
the failure of :i00 drunken half-
savage Indians to observe a Com-
mandment which they were
once taught to observe in the
Catholic cathechism is the fault
of the Catholic Church,
It is regretable that many of
our news magazines aid religious
bigots by giving incomplete news
pictures.
"MESSENGERS OF THE DEVIL"
Certainly Bolivia's Catholic
clergy doesn't favor anybody
proselytyzing Catholics and trying
to get theni to forsake the Christ-
Ian faith they have had for cen-
turies. No doubt some priests
have characterized such Protest-
ant missionaries as "messengers
of the devil." This is no reflec-
tion on the sincerity of the Pro-
testants but a statement of fact
from the Catholic viewpoint that
Christ established the Catholic
Church and that therefore those
who work against His Church are
"messengers of th edevil,"
Likewise, many patriotic Latin
Is not dominated by
will blame the Catholic Church
MURDER IS MORTAL SIN
The church is not happy over
campaigns to turn her childden
away from the historic church.
But In no way has she through
her teaching or her hierarchy
placed any approval on this mor-
tal sin of murder.
Conclusions to be drawn from
murder in Bolivia are four:
For many years before me my
people had been members of a
sect which had given me a far
different view of convent life than
that which I saw portrayed on
the silver screen. I suppose that's
why I went into that theatre that
night. The stories that had been
told to me in childhood made me
curious. Besides I think nuns
and the life they live always will
be a good news subject. I guess
that explains the great success of
that picture "Bells of St. Mary's"
piejudite ati(J now Loretta Young's cute
picture. "Come to the Stable."
People are just naturaly interest-
ed in stories about nuns. I sup-
pose that's why movies portray-
ing them draw the crowds and
also that explains why books, etc.
giving false and untrue stories
about them also sell good. Peo-
ple are just interested in nuus.
(1 It is murder and the drunk-
en Indian Catholics who disobey-
ed their church to commit it are
guilty of mortal sin before God
and ought to be PROSECUTED
in the civil court.
(2) The Catholic Church did
not sponsor it and condemns it
as a grave sin.
(3) "Time" ought to report all
the facts instead of biased half-
reporting. It would be a good
work for the national Conference
of Christians and Jews, dedicated
as it Is to removing the causes of
ill feeling, to urge some of our
news magazines to kill the hate
bait bv reporting the whole truth.
FREEDOM FOR BAPTISTS
(4) The Baptists and others are
sincere in believing that they
must wage war on the Catholic
Church and work zealously in
Catholic Christianity centuries ago
pie, who unlike pagans accepted
A LIFE OF SERVICE
Well, when I went to see "Clois-
tered" that night, I was like the
rest of the people. I was cur-
ious. And as the movie progress-
ed, I saw unfolded before me a
beautiful life of service to God
and devotion to Our Lord.
How different, I thought, is the
picture from the stories I had
been told. My people didn't like
Catholics. They belonged to a
church that didn't like Catholics,
or at least on many a Sunday
morning it appeared that the
preacher didn't. And In our home
was an assortment of the best
anti-Catholic, literature. The folks
read it with zeal and, of course,
they passed on its contents to us
children. Yes, my people for
generations had been fed on big-
otry. But like many others, they
believed things about Catholics
because they didn't know any
better. They were ignorant. I'm
sure there was little malice in
ORDED FREEDOM TO ATTACK
CATHOLICISM in every way that
does not create a public distur-
bance. To deny them freedom to
attack and freedom to worship
is from the standpoint of pru-
dence foolish and also contrary
to the SPIRIT OF OUR LORD,
who NEVER forced anyone to ac-
cept His Church and who never
Americans no doubt have looked' 1 strained anybody from attack-
Ctholic christalnlty centuries ogo. th,„. attltude But , ct there
on these anti-Catholic missionar-
ies as "agents of Yankee imper-
ialism" who are working to de-
stroy their national culture, which
is essentially Catholic.
HALF THE PICTURE
iug Him
The attacks did not diminish His
gteatness. So neithei will at-
tacks take away one iota from
the greatness of the Church.
Those poor Catholics, kings and
Prelates, who in history lost our
But this is otiiy naif of the Lord's spirit of not squelching at-
picture. With typical "Time" j tacks to the extent that they put
bias the other half is omitted in j their enemies to death for being
what apparently looks like a con- anti-Catholic are themselves proof
splracy to foster and encourage i of the divinity of the Church
those w ho spread ill will against I Their mistakes, which Our Lord
Catholics. j foreknew when he put men in the
The omitted part of the picture! leadership of His Church, were
is: Violence is deplored by ev-| not able to kill If.
ery responsible Catholic, clerical Neither then will a million mis-
or lay, and murder is a mortal; sionarleg to Latin America. We
ill ill nnv ntiihoohiem I r . i ...
tlon it Is to stir up hatred of
Catholics by printing what they
know to be lies.
KNEW ONLY BAD CATHOLICS
Well, any way I had heard
many harsh things about Catho-
lics. For instance, they used to
tell about the Catholic supersti-
tion of burning "dragon blood" for
venge. And then w ehad the mis-
fortune to know personally only
the worst kind of Catholics.
Some who had fallen away and
who had never been Instructed in
their faith confirmed our con-
fused notions of Catholic teach-
ing. A few ex-Cutholics whom
we knew had accepted Baptism
in our anti-Catholic sect. Because
the Catholic Church wouldn't per-
mit them to marry more than
once, etc.. they, of course, de-
lighted to abuse her for personal
reasons. Some of the things they
told us against the Church would
make the hair raise on one's head.
Then too we had available the
sin in any cathechism, South j favor freedom for all denomina-! "sual books with all sorts of un-
America s included. tions that attack, the historic Cath- mentlonable tales which, of
thLueh her hi«h C B°, !a! ollc churt l' The attacks CANNOT ; course, were supposed to have
has endeavored to" 'V"Ln wl *.!! t.he.Cl,UICh' becaU8e Lord been written by unfrocked priests.
teach her said to St. Peter, listed by most
ic Ten Com-1
mandments. If 300 Indians get|0f the Roman Catholic Church'
drunk and v.olate the Church s I that even the gates of h-n "-Vil
children to obey the Ten Com | reference books as the first pope' °NE N0TI0N ABOUT NUNS
- — •■••v vminnm lnai even the gates of hell itself1 if juicy little Items
teaching, no person whose mind could not destrov it 't eir remember from such books was
(Continued on page 8, col 1)
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O'Rourke, John G. The Jeffersonian (Jefferson, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 3, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 1, 1949, newspaper, November 1, 1949; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth293174/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.