I I I I II Vol. XXXV, No. 2 Price 30¢ February, 1953 The Catholic Press Yours to Use and Share GERTRUDE M. HORGAN THE GREATEST NEED OF ALL WORLD PRODUCTION, WELL-BEING AND PEACE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN N.C.W.C. POWER OF WOMEN: ILLUSION OR REALITY N.C.C.M. IN THE FIELD CALENDAR OF CATHOLIC EVENTS ITEMS OF INTEREST PRESS MONTH HELPS FROM CPA A NATIONAL MONTHLY PuBusHEo BY THE ll/{ztiOna( Catlioti~ We(fizre Con erenee --·-- . ---- Calendar of Scheduled Catholic Meetings and Events TABLE OF CONTENTS February, 1953 1-7-CATHOLIC BIBLE WEEK-sponsored by Catholic Biblical Association of February, 1953 America. 5-6- CATHOLIC ScHOOLS PREss RELATIONS AssociATION- 20th annual con­ PAGE vention, Loretto, Colo. Calendar of Scheduled Catholic Meet-- ings and Events . 2 11- SoLEMN CoNsECRATION oF THE MosT REv. CELESTINE DAMIANO of Buffalo, N. Y., as Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, in Buffalo, N. Y. The Greatest Need of all . 3 March, 1953 16-18- NATIONAL CATHOLIC CONFERENCE ON FAMILY LIFE- 21st annual The Catholic Press-Yours to Use and convention, Philadelphia, Pa. Share . 4 April, 1953 By GerJmde M. Horgan 7-10- NATIONAL CATHOLIC EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION-50th annual con­ vention, Atlantic City, N. J. World Production, Well-Being and Peace . 6 11-12- NATIONAL CouNCIL OF CATHOLIC MEN-annual meeting, St. Louis, Mo. Article VI, 1952-53 Forum Series - World Affairs: Your Busi­ 14-15- ADMINISTRATIVE BoARD, N.C.W.C.-Spring meeting, Washington, ness D.C. By Rev. Raymond A. McGowan 22-26-CATHOLIC CoMMITTEE OF THE SouTH-biennial convention, Rich· mond, Va. 26-28-NATIONAL CouNCIL OF CATHOLIC WoMEN-regional conference, Our Contributors . 9 Fresno, Calif. Prest Month Helps from CPA. • . 9 May, 1953 3-APOSTLESHIP OF THE SEA SUNDAY Current Developments in N.C.W.C. 10 6-9-CATHOLIC PRESS AssoCIATioN---:.annual convention, Atlantic City, N. J. News of Work, Projects, Inter- June, 1953 ests 9-13-CATHOLIC THEATER CoNFERENCE-9th biennial convention, Denver, National Council Catholic Women . 14 Colo. The Power of Women: Illusion 14-20-INSTITUTE ON INDUSTRY AND SOCIAL ACTION-Washington, D. C. or Reality--Diocesan Councils 22-24-CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL SociETY-general meeting, Baltimore, Md. in Convention- With Our Na­ 30-July I-CONFRATERNITY OF CHRISTIAN DocTRINE-Priests' Institute, Du- tionals- Honors for Catholic luth, Minn. Women-Orchids to Las Vegas CDA July, 1953 19-22-CATHOLIC CENTRAL VEREIN OF AMERICA and THE NATIONAL CATHO­ National Council Catholic Men 11 LIC WoMEN's UNION-annual conventions, San Antonio, Texas From the Field-Radio-Notes August, 1953 from Headquarters 3-7- DIOCESAN DIRECTORS OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF CHRISTIAN Doc­ TRINE-17th annual convention, New York, New York ltema of Interest . 20 17-21- NATIONAL LITURGICAL WEEK, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. October, 1953 4-7-CATHOLIC CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL RELATIONS­ The contents of CATHOLIC ACTION are regional conference, Portland, Ore. indexed in the Catholk Plfiodical I11d1:t. November, 19 53 CATHOLIC ACTION has granted per­ 5-8-NATIONAL FEDERATION oF DIOCESAN CATHOLIC YouTH CouNCILs-­ mission to University Microfilms, 313 second national convention, Boston, Mass. N. First Street, Ann Arbor, Mich., to 8-9-NATIONAL CATHOLIC CAMPING AssociATION-second national con­ produce volumes of CATHOLIC ACTION vention, Boston, Mass. in microfilm form. 9·13-NATIONAL CoNFERENCE ON CATHOLIC YouTH WoRK-fourth an­ nual meeting, Boston, Mass. CATHOLIC ACTION published monthly, except during July and August of each year when publlshed bi-monthly, by the National Catholic Welfare Conference. Entered as second-class matter at the post omce at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, !879. All changes o! address, renewals and subscriptions should be sent direct to CATHOLIC ACTION, 1312 Massachusetts Ave., N. W., Washington 5, D. 0. Publication, Editorial and Executive Offices Subscription Rates $3.00 per year; $3.25 outside the United 1312 Massachusetts Ave., N. W. States. Make checks or postal money WASHINGTON 5, D. C. orders payable to CATHOLIC ACTION [2] CATHOLIC ACTION tho(ic twn./ Vol. XXXV, No. 2 February, 1953 The Greatest Need of All tragic fact of our era is the mass uprooting of in these encampments. But yet he talks of "our beau­ A peoples around the face of the globe. About tiful and happy life of exile since we came to Hong­ forty million men, women and children are scat­ kong." Perhaps the text of the letter will help ex­ tered as refugees on our side of the Iron Curtain. plain this passing strange reaction: Many of the great cities of the world are host to hun­ Dear Friends: dreds of thousands of these destitute children of men -so dependent on the charity and goodwill of stran­ Three years ago, I came here from the Hands of the Reds, and, helped by some of my friends, I was lucky gers for their every need, for life itself. It is under­ enough to find a job as a coolie. Then my wife was standable how the quarter of a million refugees in able to join me from Canton, and we settled at Tung Berlin, the close to a million refugees in Pusan, or the Tau. But after the arrival of my first child, Tung Ta~ more than a million refugees packed into the small caught in a big fire. Then we moved to Kowloon Tsat. colony of Hongkong would feel embittered and re­ On the 19th of April, another big fire came upon us at jected by the world. Many of them led comfortable, Kowloon Tsai. honorable lives before misfortune stripped them of all During such terrible state, my work became very un­ their possessions. Many of them owned land, and steady, due to the bad weather. So it was hopeless to support my family. But on the 16th of ~ovell?be~, homes and businesses, and looked forward to educa­ Catholic Welfare gave us a new house m Kmg s tion for their children and a serene old age for them­ Park then a warm blanket when the cold weather came. selves. NoV: we received a big food parcel containing rice, beans, bean oil, salted eggs, sausages and bean curd. Now the refugees of such great cities as well as Really, this is our beautiful and happy !ife of. exi~e those in the camps and provisional shelters of W stern since we came to Hongkong. The happ1est thmg JS Europe and the Middle ast, are cut off from the pro­ that we became Catholics, and I hope God will have ductive business of living. If they do any work at all, mercy on us always. And I and my family will pray it is in marginal occupations, far removed from their God to bless you always to show our deep gratitude. training and capacity. The millions of refugee chil­ Yours gratefully, dren are deprived of adequate schooling, as well as of Chang --- and his family such things as regular meals and shelter. This man is one of the many who was taken shelter­ These poor driven people, knocking vainly at the less from the roads and given shelter in the one-room door of the Inn of the \Vorld, are indeed those who dwellings constructed by ~atholic Missioners fo~ home­ know God "chiefly by His rod." Yet, to some, their less Chinese from the mamland. Funds for thts hous­ life of exile seems beautiful, since only in this way ing development,. possibly the first free .housing de­ were they able to experience for themselves and for velopment in Asta, came throug~ the !3tshops Fund their children the Christian works of mercy-and thus for Victims of War. Collected tn panshes through­ gaze into the face of the loving Christ. out the United States on Laetare Sunday every year, Here is only one of the many letters from the refu­ these funds are sent for the relief of refugees and war gees of Hongkong, from a man who escaped with his victims in every part of the world accessible to Christ­ life, and nothing else, from the terror of the new ian works of mercy. War Relief Services-N.C.W.C. China regime. He was a man of property, but now is the agency of the Bi~hops of the .U:nited States in works as a coolie-like so many of the other Hong­ channeling relief suppltes to the mtlltons who have kong exiles. His hut on one of the nineteen hilltop known hunger, homelessness, hatred and terror. The settlements was burned in one of the frequent fires Turn to page 9 February, 1953 [3] The Catholic Press­ Yours to Use and Share Gertrude M. Horgan Scene- the livingroom of a must ask himself: What am I doing to build a Chris­ Catholic home in "X" parish. tian world?" OHN and Mary Smith, "average" Catholics, and John and Mary Smith take good care of their three of their children are relaxing with televi­ family's physical health. At the first sign of a sniffle, J sion and the evening papers. Enter son Frank, a they rush the children to a doctor and follow his lanky twelve-year old now in the eighth grade of pa­ directives faithfully. Such concern is good, but what rochial school. After several minutes of competition concern do they show for administering an antidote with TV, Frank manages to get his mother's attention to the poison of secularism? How can the Smiths long enough to ask, "Mom, what are you goin' to do build a Christian world if, through carelessness or with that stack of Catholic papers and magazines on absorption with the problems and pleasures of daily the back porch? Is it all right for me to take them to living, they throw away the background information school for the paper drive?" which the whole family needs for the "full Christian vision"? In this materialistic world it is virtually im­ Mother looks away from the screen, frowns, and possible to develop a Catholic mind and Christian says, "Oh dear, I've been meaning to get around to vision and to hold fast to a Catholic view of the that stack for weeks, but I never have the time.