Carolina
Catholic
Edition of Our Sunday Visitor
Subscription $5.00 Copy 10*
\
Volume LVII
December 1, 1908
No. 31
SALEI6H, N.C.
P.O. Box 9503
Prelates Protest False
Interpretation of Letter
Members of the American
hierarchy have voiced protests
over mass media reports on the
U.S. bishops meeting in Wash
ington, Nov. 11 to 15, specifical
ly concerning the bishops’ state
ment, “Human Life in Our Day.”
The gist of the prelates’ com
plaints is the news media gave
the impression that the U.S. bish
ops had taken a stand in opposi
tion to Pope Paul Vi’s encycli
cal on birth control, Humanae
Vitae, reiterating the Church’s
opposition to use of artificial
contraceptives.
Bishop Borneo J. Blanchette
and Auxiliary Bishop Raymond
J. Vonesh of Joliet, HI., said in
a statement:
“We were surprised upon re
turning from Washington that
some people thought the Ameri
can bishops were opposing Pope
Paul’s encyclical. In voting our
approval, we definitely stood
with the Holy Father.”
Editors Note: The entire text
of the U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Let
ter on “Homan Life in Our Day”
appears tat the Sunday Visitor
• section of this issue.
Archbishop William E. Cousins
of Milwaukee said news media
coverage of the bishops’ pastor
al letter tended to concentrate
on “only seven lines’’ of the 57
page document. He asserted free
dom of conscience, discussed in
the statement, meant nothing if
taken out of focus,
i At a press conference in Pitts
\ burgh, Bishop John J. Wright of
) Pittsburgh, a principal framer of
the pastoral letter, and Bishop
'Secre#' Bishops
Still Under Ban
Berlin — Despite the Czech
oslovakian government’s trend
toward liberalization in its rela
tions with the churches, secretly
consecrated Catholic bishops
will not be permitted to take
over Sees in that country under
| existing laws, it was reported
here.
Mrs. Erika Kadlecova, chief
of Czechoslovakia’s church af
fairs office, told the Prague
newspaper Lidova Demokracie,
organ of the Christian People’s
party, that all bishops the gov
ernment regards as regularly
consecrated and appointed—that
is, with its permission — have
been reinstalled in their Sees
after having been removed from
their posts by the previous Stal
inist-line regime. She said that
new appointments by the Holy
See will be possible only with
the agreement of the govem
- ment.
The German Catholic news
agency KNA reported that there
are three secretly consecrated
bishops in Czechoslovakia who
are not listed in the Annuario
L Pontificio, the Vatican year
* book that lists all bishops and
officials of church organizations
William G. Connare of Greens
burg, Pa., agreed that “early
news reports (concerning the
pastoral) were so misleading as
to require special clarification.”
Earlier John Cardinal Krol of
Philadelphia and Archbishop
Karl J. Alter of Cincinnati de
plored mass media distortions
of the bishops’ statement
ARCHBISHOP COUSINS said
the mass media coverage of the
pastoral gave the impression that
the statement left room for mar
ried couples to break the ban
against contraceptives if their
conscience required.
Speaking before the Milwaukee
Archdiocesan Council of Catho
lic Men, Archbishop Cousins
urged Catholics to read the bish
ops’ letter in its entirely to get
the development of logic in the
statement
“It is frustrating to realize
that anything we labored on so
long should be seen only in
part,” he said.
The archbishop pointed out the
bishops’ letter mentioned Pen
ance and Holy Communion to
gether. He said: “With pastoral
solicitude we urge those who have
resorted to artificial contracep
tion never to lose heart, but to
continue to take full advantage
of the strength which comes
from the sacrament of Penance,
See Bishops Protest, page 8A
Says Laity Patient in Face
Of Catholic Church Turmoil
Los Angeles — (NC> — The
superior general of the Mary
knoll Fathers said here the laity
are exhibiting tremendous pa
tience in the face of turmoil in
the Catholic Church.
“Lay persons are not enam
ored of the peculiar views of
any particular priest,” Father
John McCormack said. “The lai
ty have a deep faith in what a
priest represents as a priest, de
spite his own views on any par
ticular issue. People see beyond
this.
“There is so much turmoil and
what appear to be personal trag
edies among priests that one
might expect greater alienation
and withdrawal on the part of
the laity. But they have a tre
mendous forbearance and see
beyond this. Somehow or other
they, can see beyond the con
troversies to the truth of Christ’s
words: ‘I will be with you to the
consummation of the world.’ ”
Father McCormack was inter
viewed at Maryknoll headquar
ters here in the course of a visit
to the U.S. houses of his society.
His views on the temper of the
laity were formed by his travels,
he said. He has visited Africa,
Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and
the Philippines this year.
The Maryknoll leader talked
about the climate of change.
“We Americans, particularly,
are a very pragmatic people and
we face change very readily,” he
said. “Look at the changes in
prosaic things like transporta
tion and communications.”
People recognize change and
accept it, he continued. They ac
cept changes in the liturgy that
make sense; they accept the
streamlining of disciplinary
laws, for example, those pertain
ing to the Eucharistic fast.
“But what all of us shy away
from are attacks on essentials,
attacks on the existence of God,
on love, respect and obedience
to the Pope,” Father McCormack
declared.
“This is what we’re going
through now, a time of distin
guishing between accidentals
and essentials. This phenome
non you find taking place all
over the world.
“As human beings we require
two things,” Father McCormack
said. “We require security psy
See Laity, page 4A
MEDAL OF HONOR — Father (Capt.) Angleo J. Liteky,
receives the emblem of the country’s highest award, the
Congressional Medal of Honor, from President Lyndon B.
Johnson at the White House, Nov. 19. The award was made
for extraordinary heroism when Chaplain Liteky repeatedly
risked his life to rescue and minister to wounded and dying
men of the 199th Infantry Brigade in Vietnam on Dec. 6,
1967. (NC photo by RENI)
Asheville Parish Marks
Centennial with Renovations
Asheville — This year
marks the centennary of the
coming of the Catholic Church
to North Carolina. Vicar Apos
tolic James Gibbons rode a white
mule over the mountain traces
to the village of Asheville in
1868 where he purchased a sev
en-acre tract of land from Col.
N. A. Woodfiii on the knoll now
known as 'Catholic Hill,’ the
present site of Stephens-Lee
High School. Two years before,
August 13, 1866, Rev. J. J.
O’Connell had offered the Sacri
fice of Mass on Mount Mitchell.
It took the two Fathers O’Con
nell two years to raise the mon
ey abroad to construct the first
church, an attractive brick struc
A CAUSE FOB THANKSGIVING — The recently completed renovation of the sanctuary of
St. Lawrence’s Church, Asheville, includes two ambos constructed of tiles kilned by the orig
inal architect and found in the crypt of the Church. The facade of the old altar was brought
forward and topped with a slab of Tennessee marble.New bells have also been installed. The
photograph above wastakenat Sunday Mass on November 17.
j*r.
ture oh the bluff above Valley
Street. In 1870 it was dedicated
in honor of St Lawrence in def
erence to Fir. Lawrence O’Con
nell, brother to the historian of
Catholicism in Georgia and the
Carolinas, and himself the active
missionary of North Carolina.
Circuit-riding priests admin
istered to the few Catholics and
summer visitors, but no perma
nent pastor was appointed to the
Western Mountains until Fa
ther J. B. White in 1887 was
named first pastor of St Law
rence in Asheville. One of the
earliest families in the area was
the Keenan family who owned
the entire Chunn’s Cove area,
east of town.
Within a year Father White
realized that the church on
Catholic Hill was too inaccessi
ble, so he purshased the pres
ent property on the corner of
Haywood and Flint Street where
he built a small frame church
and rectory. In 1895 Father
White was succeeded by a young
priest, Father Peter G. Marion
who arrived in August at the
Asheville depot where Father
White turned over to him the
church treasury, a tin box con
taining $4.00 in dimes and nick
els.
Ten years later Father Peter
was joined by his younger broth
er, Father Patrick Marion, an
assistant. In 1906 Raphael Guas
tavino, the great Spanish archi
tect who had worked some
six years on the Bittmore Man
sion, offered to construct a large
edifice in brick and tile with his
‘cohesive’ technique of construc
tion.
By 1905 the building of the
new, present structure got un
der way, with Raphael Guastc
vino, senior, overseeing the build
ing of the oval, unsupported
brick and tile dome which meas
ures 82 by 52 feet Raphael jun
ior saw to the kilning of the dis
tinctive Guastavino tile.
In 1908 when the main dome
and supporting walls had been
finished Raphael Guastavino,
See St Lawrence, page 7A