Peace in 1966?
Since 1914 the world has known little in the way
of universal peace. There have been variations in the
extent of wars, from those that have enveloped whole
continents and the surrounding seas to the minor con
flicts confined to one country or neighboring countries.
The passing of 1965 and the advent of the new year find
the world in a normal state. The struggles and the
sacrifices of half a century have failed to produce a
harvest of enduring peace. Still, faith and hope survive
that in the foreseeable future a more enlightened world
will recognize the folly and the futility of vast human
sacrifices for ignoble ends.
The passing year has witnessed the customary ming
ling of joy and sadness, of triumph and defeat, of faith
and despair. For our own country it has been a year of
material prosperity, even of affluence, and it has been
made notable in our history by progress in the cause of
human relations and social justice. In these respects the
. year has been outstanding. We have advanced far toward
the objective of true democracy. On the under side of
the weaving, unfortunately, a less heartening picture is
revealed. It is impossible to contemplate the record of
crime and corruption, the general moral decline, without
sorrow and dismay. How legitimate can be our claim
upon greatness as a nation while lawlessness and im
morality loom so large in our national life?
Happily, the future is not one of unalloyed gloom.
From the Second Vatican Council has come the inspira
tion toward a higher spiritual order among nations and
in the lives of individuals. Religious forces throughout
the world have been stimulated toward greater endeavor
in behalf of true Christian living and unity against evil
and irreligious influences. Corruption and immorality
will not be accepted as a normal way of life.
And there are many signs that aggressors will learn
through tragic experience that they will not be per
mitted to impose their will upon people who cherish
their own freedom. Vietnam is the current testing
ground. The American people are paying a heavy price
in human life and in material wealth for their defense
of the ideal of human freedom. In spite of some faint
hearts at home and the aloofness of other nations from
a trying ordeal, we will see the thing through.
Meanwhile, world sentiment for peace is mounting
? and is finding eloquent expression in many lands, notably
from the Vatican, where Pope Paul’s call for a cease
fire, followed by negotiations to end the fighting in
Vietnam, has given impetus to renewed efforts to restore
peace in Southeast Asia.
“The number of combatants is growing, the num
ber of victims is growing, the pitiful mass of refugees is
growing and th edanger of even a larger conflagration
is growing,” His Holiness declared. “Where is peace?
Where is the human and Christian Christmas?”
This cry is echoed by civilized people everywhere.
It must be answered by responsible world leaders who
^ are under a deep moral obligation to exhaust every
resource of diplomatic power in their pursuit of peace.
Success, which is not unattainable, would make the new
year of 1966 resplendent in history.
The Monitor, Trenton, N.J.
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Volume
No. S3
9, 1966
...
I Jesus In The Temple
Chariot
Books Are Not Everything!
The Week ITl Liturgy BY rev. paschal boland, o.s.b.
The Family of God
Sunday, January 9
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY. Strong
family units are the lifeblood of a nation. The
more closely united families are among them
selves, and the more closely associated and in
volved they are in the affairs of their nation,
the stronger, more powerful, and influential is
the nation.
Such was the plan of God when He created
the original human family to be His nation, the
People of God. However, given the freedom to
choose to remain intimately united to Himself
or not, the first father and mother God created
chose to disassociate themselves from Him.
The split of God’s first family from Him
self continues to the present day. Repairing the
splits, re-uniting huge assemblies as well as in
dividuals to the family of God is the ultimate
goal of Ecumenism so that there may be but
“one flock and one shepherd,” that is, one hap
py and united family of God that includes every
member of the human race. “Lord Jesus, make
us always follow the example of Your holy
family” (Prayer of the Assembly),
f
Physician States
Birth Control No
Answer to Poverty
BERKELEY, Calif. — (NC) — A public
health specialist said here it is a fallacy to sup
pose that “we may be able to contracept our
way to the Great Society.”
Dr. Stephen J. Plank of the Harvard Uni
versity school of public health said birth control
programs among the poor, whether in this coun
try or abroad, will not significantly reduce pop
ulation growth unless they have assurance of
escaping their poverty.
“If you give them no escape from poverty
whether or not their families are large, they
are not going to listen to talk about not having
so many babies,” Dr. Plank said at a session
during the annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science
(Dec. 26).
“Victory in the war for equal rights might
be more effective than a thousand contraceptive
clinics in reducing fertility among the Negro and
other poor,” he stated.
Dr. Plank indicated that he favors making
birth control services available to the poor
through public programs. But he questioned
whether the poor would respond to such pro
grams without other efforts to lift them out of
poverty.
“Historically, where small families have
been perceived as conferring a benefit, people
have been quite effective in controlling fertility
without the aid of science,” he said.
By contrast, he said, in countries where
there is not enough food, “it makes no difference
to ordinary people whether there are a great
many mouths to feed or just many mouths to
feed.”
Monday, January 10
MASS OF 1st SUNDAY AFTER EPIPH
ANY. After recording the return to Nazareth
of the Holy Family from their exile in Egypt,
the evangelists next note the journey Mary and
Joseph took to Jerusalem when Christ was 12
years old. Then a long interval of silence fol
lows about the Holy Family. It is a valid pre
sumption that as Christ grew to manhood and
maturity His life was that of a normal young
Jewish youth of the times, obedient to Mary
and Joseph, “He was subject to them ... as He
grew in wisdom, age and grace before God and
man” (Gospel).
Tuesday, January 11
MASS AS OF YESTERDAY. If Christ, Who
is God also, could be “subject to them,” to Mary
and Joseph (Gospel), why should ordinary
Christian children find it so difficult to be sub
ject to their parents, to obey and reverence
them? Is it not the responsibility of Christian
parents to teach their children this obedience
and insist on being obeyed and respected?
Wednesday, January 12
MASS AS ON MONDAY. In theory, the
concept of the Church being the Mystical Body
of Christ of which He is the head is not difficult
to understand. In practice, however, some Chris
tians are only concerned with one member of
this Mystical Body, themselves. As a member
matures in this Mystical Body of Christ this
concern should broaden so that each member
realizes and becomes a vital and active member
of a parish, a diocese, an ecclesiastical province,
and finally of the whole Church, “for we many
are the one body in Christ, and members one of
another” (1st Lesson).
Thursday, January 13
BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
The baptisms that John the Baptist conferred
by the bank of the River Jordan were not sac
ramental, but rather symbolic acts denoting a
deliberate turning away from sin on the part of
a recipient. They were public acts of conversion,
baptisms of repentance which indicated the be
ginning of a new life. The baptisms he confer
red were with water only, while the baptism
that Christ would confer would be of the Holy
Spirit (Gospel).
Friday, January 14
ST. HILARY. This 4th century bishop of
Poitiers in France was a convert from pagan
idolatry and became an articulate voice against
the Arian heretics to which sect the Emperor be
longed. He was not afraid to confront the Em
peror for his errors and was exiled for his “con
victions, entreaties, rebukes” (1st Lesson). In
1851 he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
Saturday, January 15
ST. PAUL THE FIRST HERMIT. This 4th
century Christian Egyptian decided to live an
ascetical life in the desert when only 22 to es
cape the persecution of the Emperor Decius and
to practice his faith* freely. When the persecu
tion ceased he continued in his very special
vocation of a hermit because he found the yoke
of Christ easy and His burden light (Gospel).
He died at (he age of 113.