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CATHOLI 


Vol. 12—No. 4 


ee 


Views of the Month 


Chicago, Illinois, 


Negro Physicians Condemn Segregation 
In Tax-Supported Hospitals 


HICAGO, Ill.—The National Medical Association at their 57th 
annual convention went on record as approving the following 


resolutions: 


1, The elimination of discrimination against Negro physicians 
in hospitals supported by public taxation. This resolution was 
aimed primarily at southern institutions. 

2. Censoring the American Medical Association for approving 
the exclusion of Negro physicians from state medical organizations. 

3. The support of all approved institutions striving for the in- 
terests of the general welfare of the public. This includes child 
welfare agencies, tuberculosis, polio and cancer foundations. 

4. Federal aid to education, with emphasis on medical schools. 

There were more than 3,000 delegates in attendance. 


Young Athlete Wins Olympic Honors 
HICAGO, Ill.—One of the youngest girls to 
make the Olympics is Barbara Jones of St. 


Elizabeth’s High School here. 


She is fifteen 


years old. Miss Jones was a member of the 
United States 400-meter relay team which won 
this event at the recent Olympic Games in Hel- 
sinki, Finland, breaking the world record for the 


event. 


She also holds the American record for 


Barbara Jones 


the junior broad jump and won the high point 
trophy in the Junior National A. A. U. track meet in Waterbury, 


Conn. 


(In our November issue we mistakenly stated that Miss Mabel 
Landry was on the winning Olympic relay team. She won the 
women’s broad jump at the Olympics and set the Women’s Na- 


tional broad jump record.—Ed. ) 


Holy Name Society Integrated in Louisiana 


EW ORLEANS, La.—Under 

terms of a resolution adopted 
at the first biennial convention 
of both white and Negro par- 
ishes of the New Orleans Arch- 
diocesan Holy Name Society Un- 
ion here, HNS units henceforth 
will be in the same organization. 

Some 500 delegates acted on 
the resolution after hearing 


call the move “consistent with 
the teachings of the Catholic 
Church, of Our Lord and Sav- 
iour Jesus Christ, that all men 
are equal in the sight of God, 
since all are created in the like- 
ness of God.” The Archbishop 
said the adoption of the resolu- 
tion is one more proof of the 
mark of unity in the Church. 


Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel 


VA Halts Race Labels in 


Home Loan Appraisals 
CLEVELAND, Ohio—I. B. King, director of the Veterans Ad- 
ministration loan guaranty service said that race labels will be 
taken off VA home loan appraisals and that the VA will insist on 
equality of treatment for all veterans seeking loan insurance. He 
made this statement at a recent meeting of the National Associa- 
tion of Real Estate Brokers, a colored group. At the meeting 
Lernerte Roberts of Philadelphia displayed a photostat of a VA 
appraisal denying a white veteran a loan because it designated the 
community as “colored.” William B. Collier of Chicago revealed 
that of some 100,000 loans in that area, only five were received 
by colored home buyers. 


Deputy Commissioner for Fair Employment 


ORTLAND, Oregon—Mark A. 
Smith, president of the Van- 
couver, Washington, branch of 
the NAACP and vice-president 
of the Urban League of Port- 
land, has received appointment 
as Deputy Commissioner of the 
Oregon State Bureau of Labor, 
Employment Practices Division. 

His new duties will include the | 
investigation of complaints of 
bias in hiring and upgrading and 
the promotion of a public edu- 
cation program in fair employ- | 
ment practices. 

Born in Houston, Texas, Mr. 
Smith is a graduate of Morgan ; 
college in Baltimore and has | | 
done graduate study at Howard | 
and Columbia universities. He / 
is a veteran of World War I, | 
having served as radarman with 
the 99th Pursuit Squadron. 

(Continued on Page 6) 


MARK SMITH 
(Photo Courtesy Portland Challenger) 


Ti 


December 1952 


nclist- 


WITHOUT INTERRACIAL JUSTICE SOCIAL JUSTICE WILL FAIL 


ota» 66 


What Names Are Offensive? 


By Elsye Mahern 


AN IMPROMPTU DISCUS- 

SION at-an early meeting of 
the newly formed Catholic In- 
terracial Council of Indianapolis 
was a good example of the un- 
derstanding which can be fos- 
tered by such a group. 

One member mentioned the 
singing of Old Black Joe by the 
Paulist Choir at a political con- 
vention and termed the song: 
“A left-handed compliment to 
slavery.” 

“Of course, it wasn’t mali- 
cious,” he stated, “‘but offensive, 
none the less.” 

“Like Little Black Sambo,” 
added another member. 

After some time a non-Negro 
member admitted that she must 
be one of those guilty of offense 


without malice because she said, 
“Little Black Sambo has been a 
favorite at our house ever since 
our oldest child could turn the 
pages of a book.” 


“Surely,” spoke another meek- 
ly, “in this instance the word 
‘Black’ is descriptive and noth- 
ing more.” 

“It isn’t ‘Black’ which is of- 
fensive,” a Negro offered, “it’s 
‘Sambo’.” She then went on to 
explain that it was a name often 
applied slightingly to the Negro. 
Several non-Negro members 
hadn’t known or realized that 
fact. 


One member, an _ insurance 
agent, said: “I see Little Black 
Sambo in as 
homes as I do white ones.” 


many colored. 


“Colored” or “Negro”? 

Anovier member took excep- 
tion to his use of the word “col- 
ored.” “I think we're all proud 
to be Negroes,” she said, but 
added that she felt the word col- 
ored as opposed to white was an 
implied insult. 

The opposite view was taken 
by a man who said he preferred 
to be called colored because if 
the word Negro wasn’t pro- 
nounced correctly he had al- 
ready tensed against a possible 
insult before the word was com- 
pleted. 

The conclusion drawn from 
this discussion was: people think 
as individuals and not as a race, 
therefore it’s wrong to say: 
“Negroes think thus-and-so.” If 
you want to know what Joe 
thinks, ask him. 


CHICAGO FRIENDSHIP HOUSE YOUTH CLUB 
John McCue, visiting volunteer from Minnesota, top second from right, conducts basketball 
practice in gym at 4233 South Indiana Ave., Chicago. 


A Soldier's Promise 


Ike Has a Hard Task to Root Out Segregation in D. C. 


by John Connors 


PEAKING AT CLEVELAND 
on September 8, General Ei- 
senhower told a group of Re- 
publican leaders on the issue of 
segregation and discrimination 
in Washington, “I believe we 
should eliminate every vestige 
of segregation in the District of 
Columbia.” He reiterated this 
pledge in Wheeling, W. Va., and 
elsewhere. Whatever be our in- 
dividual political .preferences, 
we at Washington’s Friendship 
House look forward to the re- 
demption of this pledge. Gen- 
eral Eisenhower’s lifelong repu- 
tation for integrity and for get- 
ting things done, a reputation 
which was an important vote- 
getter in the recent campaign, 
encourages us to believe that he 
was neither insincere nor un; 
aware of the difficulties when he 
gave that promise to us and to 
the nation. 


HE WASHINGTON’ EVE- 

NING STAR, a prominent lo- 
cal paper, which is as conserva- 
tive as an antimacassar, stated 
last month that despite the cam- 
paign oratory there was little 
that Eisenhower could do as 


president to break down segre- 
gation and discrimination here. 
This evaluation, typical of the 
Star’s views on interracial prog- 
ress, does not sufficiently reckon 


~ with either the General’s proven 


personality and leadership abil- 
ity or with the broad adminis- 
trative powers of the president 
and his subordinate agencies 
over this voteless city. Also, a 
Republican Congress, in which 
Southern members will not con- 
trol strategic committee chair- 
manships, will be able (provided 
the Républican-Southern Demo- 
cratic alliance is dissolved) to 
assist the President where his 
executive authority is insuffi- 
cient for the job. 


Here briefly is a partial out- 
line of the many-faceted task 
which lies before the General- 
President if he is to redeem his 
pledged word and remove from 
our city the blight and odor of 
racial prejudice and discrimina- 
tion. 


Schools Must Integrate 
HE STRINGENTLY SEGRE- 
GATED PUBLIC SCHOOL 
SYSTEM here is not only an 
abomination itself but also sets 


the discriminatory pattern for 
the rest of the community. As 
the major local institution, ex- 
cluding the federal government, 
it teaches our young citizens 
prejudice by its obvious under- 
lying philosophy and it also sets 
a harmful and strongly influen- 
tial pattern which is widely 
copied by public agencies and 
by private concerns and _ indi- 
viduals. The Budget Director 
estimates that seven million dol- 
lars a year could be saved from 
the school budget by inte a- 
tion. The’ School Board 1 
school administrators spend .. e- 
mendous amounts of time and 
energy trying to give the sys- 
tem some semblance of equaiity 
and justice. (Efficiency they do 
not even pretend to achieve by 
segregation.) No educational 
expert would sincerely contest 
the fact that our two public 
teachers’ colleges could be op- 
erated far more effectively and © 
inexpensively if merged. The Su- 
preme Court will rule this spring 
on the constitutionality of segre- 
gation in Washington public 
schools, but even if the consti- 
tutional assault should fail, Gen- 


(Continued on Page 8) 





Page 2 


Vol. 12 





December, 1952 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


Formerly Harlem Friendship House News 


ag ALi INDIANA AVENUE 


OE i ertnasarreapibnsevientigunvermcncstresiigapeere 


Associate Managers 


Tel. OAkland 4-9564 


olin eee 
. Alice Collins, Delores Price, Julia Pyles 


A Member of the Catholic Press Association 


The Catholic Interracialist is owned 


and operated by Friendship Houses 


at 4233 South Indiana Ave., Chicago 15, Illinois; 34 West 135th St., New York 37, 
N. Y.; 814 7th St., S.W., Washington 4, D.C.; and 3310 N. Williams St., Port- 
land, Ore.; and published monthly September through June, and bi-monthly July- 
August by Friendship House, 4233 South Indiana Ave., Chicago 15, Illinois. 
Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13, 1943, at the Post Office of New York, 


New York, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Sept. 16, 1948, at the Post Office of New York, New York, under the Act of 
March 3, 1879. Reentered as second-class matter Dec. 18, 1950, at the Post Office 


at Chicago, Ill., under the Act of March 8, 1879. Subscription price $1.00 a year. 


Foreign $1.25 a year. Single copies, 10c. 


ist is 





Our Purpose 
HE PURPOSE of the Catholic Interracial- 


TO REAFFIRM both the human 

* dignity and rights of all men and 

the profound unity among all men es- 

tablished by our common Creator and 
Savior and our common Brother. 


TO HELP Friendship House’s practical effort to 

* bring the spirit of Christ’s justice and love to bear 
on the attitudes, laws, customs, and institutions of our 
time inasmuch as they have been corrupted by racial 
prejudice and hatred and discrimination, and the lives 
of men and women, Negro and white, have for that rea- 


son been degraded. 





Orphans Say, “Love Me!” 


EDDIE CANTOR TOLD A 

STORY, reprinted in the 
Catholic Digest, about his visit 
to a Paris shelter for children. 
He gave out candy bars to the 
children. All of them were de- 
lighted to take them except one 
little girl who refused them. 
Eddie said, “Now what can I do 
for you, little girl?” She said, 
“Love me!’”’ Eddie thought those 
were the saddest words he ever 
heard. 


But they can be glorious 
words if they will help some of 
us to realize that we can give 
our love and service to the many 
children who are orphans or 
whose parents have had to put 
them in a big institution. When 
our Mothers’ Club from Harlem 
Friendship House visited the or- 
phanage at Wading River, Long 
Island, some of them cried at 
the pathetic hunger for love 
shown by the children who clus- 
tered around them. 

ABIES IN LARGE FOUND- 

LING HOMES can never be 
taken out in a carriage unless 
volunteers come to help. The 
sisters and nurses probably have 
enough love in their hearts for 
the many children they must 
tend. But they do not have fifty 
arms apie¢e to hold them or to 
push their carriages. You and 
your friends might offer your 
help to the sisters. 

Two and three-year-olds in big 
shelters often cannot talk be- 
cause they haven’t heard grown- 


ups’ voices enough to learn to 
imitate them. You could go and 
play with them or read them 
stories from beautiful picture 
books. You could take them out 
for a walk in the park. 

All these children need to see 
real homes where love rules. 
You could borrow one or two for 
the holidays. Maybe you’d want 
to take them once in a while for 
week-ends. They need someone 
to take a father’s place in their 
lives, especially the boys. Some 
seminarians we know go and 
play baseball and other games 
with the orphan boys. You could 
take them to the zoo or a mu- 
seum or out for a soda. 


DOPTING THESE CHIL- 

DREN IS NOT EASY. God 
will send children to poor fami- 
lies or couples over forty or peo- 
ple without adequate homes. But 
an adoption agency won’t do 
these things. Colored children 
have a particularly hard time 
because the homes of colored 
would-be adopters do not meet 
the standards set. Often the 
parents do not wish to give the 
children up permanently. So 
don’t get attached to these chil- 
dren unless you haye the high 
qualifications demanded. 

Love them unselfishly for the 
love of the little Christ and for 
their innocent, fun-loving selves. 
And you'll not only pile up 
treasures in heaven but you'll 
have a lot of fun. 





New Martyr of Race Hatred 


THE KILLING of ‘Sister Aiden of Mater Dei Hospital in East 
London near Durban in the Union of South Africa is another 


No, 4 


Reentered as second-class matter 





example of the stupidity and diabolical cruelty of race hatred. 
This has killed mainly colored people before. The maddened crowd 
did not see in her the doctor who had healed them and their wives 
and children. They saw merely a white person. Upon her innocent 
and loving head they visited the punishment for the avhite men’s 
crimes against them. She died like her innocent Lord at the hands 
of the people she loved, atoning for the sins of others. 


IN HER THE MOB SAW the white men who had pushed them 
off their fertile land, crowding them into arid regions. Mean- 
while the whites lived in luxury, grossly underpaying their colored 
servants. Negroes were forbidden to buy back their land. Although 
78 per cent of the population is African, only about 7 per cent of 
the land is theirs. 
High Taxes Without Representation 
GISTER AIDEN WAS AN IMAGE in their minds of the white 
man who had denied them self-government. Out of 156 mem- 
bers of the Héuse of Assembly in the Union of South Africa only 
six are direct representatives of non-Europeans, And even these 
six must be of European descent. Because Negroes have little 
political influence, the white man has imposed taxes on them which 
are way out of proportion to their income. “Members of the other 
racial groups who earned an income equal to the average Native 








YOUR 
KING 


—Virginia Sobotka 


Christ In the Universe 


Wil THIS ambiguous earth 
His dealings have been told us. These abide: 
The signal to a maid, the human birth, 
The lesson, and the young Man crucified. 
UT not a star of all 
The innumerable host of stars has heard 
How He administered this terrestrial ball. 
Our race have kept their God’s entrusted Word. 
F HIS earth-visiting feet 
None knows the secret, cherished, perilous, 
The terrible, shamefast, frightened, whispered, sweet, 
Heart-shattering secret of His way with us. 
O PLANET knows that this 
Our wayside planet, carrying land and wave, 
Love and life multiplied, and pain and bliss, 
Bears, as chief treasure, one forsaken grave. 
N°: IN OUR little day, 
May His devices with the heavens be guessed, 
His pilgrimage to tread the Milky Way 
Or His bestowals there be manifest. 
UT IN THE eternities, 
Doubtless we shall compare together, hear 
A million alien Gospels, in what guise 
He trod the Pleiades, the Lyre, the Bear. 
O: BE PREPARED, my soul! 
To read the inconceivable, to scan 
The million forms of God these stars unveil 
When, in our turn, we show to them a Man. 
(Oxford University Press — “Poems of Alice Meynell — Complete 
Edition’) 








income would generally be exempt altogether from direct taxation,” 
says “The Handbook of Race Relations in South Africa” published 
by the Oxford University Press. Indirect taxes on blankets, clothes, 
sugar, and (in the cities) tea force the Negroes into the white 
man’s money economy and off the land. They are forced to seek 
work in farming, mining or manufacture. Yet the government does 
not want them to bring their families into the cities. It does not 
allow even the workers themselves to live in some cities but puts 
them in “locations.” These are often deplorably bad housing and 
yet they bring in a sizable income to some municipalities. They are 
often not conveniently situated and the Negroes must pay trans- 
portation which they cannot afford in order to get to work. 
Pass Laws Resented 

NEGROES RESENT BITTERLY THE PASS LAWS which take 

away their freedom of movement in their own country. They 
are intended to keep workers on farming or city jobs and to control 
movement of workers. They also produce quite a revenue in fees 


(Continued on Page 3) 





BLACKFACE MINSTRELS 
And Some TV and Radio Shows... 


10 Reasons Why They're Not So Funny 
We've sold 7,000 copies already! It's very readable and 


what a lot of knowledge of human relations it gives! And 
it’s only 2c! Get it at your Friendship House or send 
amount plus postage to 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 
4233 South Indiana Avenue Chicago 15, Illinois 


Subscribe to The Catholic Interracialist 
$1 a Year—$1.25 Foreign 


December, 1952 


Taught to Hate. 
by Eva Rutland 


(Reprinted by special permission 
of the Ladies’ Home Journal, 
Copyright 1952. The Curtis 
Publishing Company.) 


“YH, MAMMA, DON’T look 
at those white peoples.” 

My five-year-old tossed her pig- 
tails disdainfully, marched 
rapidly ahead. 

I caught up with her, aston- 
ished. “Why?” 

“They’re bad.” 

“Oh, Elsie, they are not. You 
don’t even know them.” 


“But they are white peoples.”” 


I began a long explanation 
that people are judged good or 
bad, not by the pigment of their 
skins but by actions and atti- 
tudes. From the moment of her 
birth, I had braced myself for 
the humiliations and insults she 
and my other children, as Ne- 
groes, would be forced to en- 
dure. I held my breath when 
she walked up to the burly po- 
liceman in downtown Atlanta 
and asked to blow his whistle 
—he merely grinned and ex- 
plained that only policemen 
were permitted to blow. My 
heart skipped a beat when she 
tiptoed up and drank thirst- 
ily from a fountain marked 
“White Only’ — but the floor- 
walker smiled and murmured, 
“Cute kid.” I lifted a restrain- 
ing hand when my two-year-old 
son made friends with a little 
blue -eyed blonde — but her 


(Continued on Page 3) 


Readers Write 


What About Blackface | 
Minstrels? 


Missouri 


Dear Editors: 


Since you have had much ex- 
perience in working with Ne- 
groes, I would like to know your 
opinion of blackface minstrel 
shows, and their effect, or the 
reaction they arouse in the Ne- 
groes you know. I know that 
many Catholic organizations 
regularly produce minstrels, and 
they are traditional even in some 
seminaries. Information you can 
give me will be a big help in 
making up my own mind as to 
what attitude to take toward 
them — disapproval, or tolera- 
tion, or cooperation. 


It seems to me that the mere 
fact of blackface, and the usual 
portrayal of the simple buffoon 
—even if the characterizations 
otherwise were kept strictly 
charitable—would be insulting 
to a Negro. Maybe though, I am 
wrong, and so I would like to 
have your informed opinion, lest 
I be severe with my friends and 
acquaintances. 

Sincerely in Christ, 
J. Bu): 


(Your Christian feelings' about 
blackface minstrel shows were 
right. They are a drawback to 
better human relations. We, are 
sending you our leaflet, {‘Black- 
face Minstrels — Ten Reasons 
Why They’re Not So Funny” by 
Rev. Albert Foley, S. J. which 
explaines in detail the objections 
to this form of entertainment. 


We know of a case where a 
colored girl left the school hall 
in tears because of the way the 
blackface minstrel show por- 
trayed her people. Another girl 
said, “If this is what these white 
people think of my people, what 
must they think of me?” She 
never felt as much at ease with 
her white friends as she had 
before. — Ed.) 


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December, 1952 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


Lay Apostolate—Parisian Style 
Paris Cafe Run by Christian Cell 


By GEORGES BAGUET 


PARIS! 

The Latin Quarter, Pigalle, 
and the Champs Elysees—but 
many things else, too. 

Some years ago (1947, as I 
remember), a priest worker was 
sent by his superiors to a work- 
er and Communist district of 
Paris, poor and half abandoned. 
A cafe was for sale in the same 
district. This priest gathered 
enough funds from friends to 
buy the place. From this un- 
usual act—at least for a priest 
—a Christian community was to 
start. This cafe, also very mod- 
est, without any neon lights, nor 
sidewalk, was nevertheless like 
all cafes in Paris. A place to 
meet friends, a place to spend 
hours around a bottle of wine. 
This cafe, like others, was more 
than just a public place. It was, 
too, a sociological phenomenon. 

CHRISTIAN LAYMAN 

GROUP — most of ‘them 
workmen, one a professor, an- 
other a doctor—handled the 
business. They wished to make 
this house more than an ordi- 
nary eating place. It should be 
a home for everyone. Sure, 
they would keep the trade-house, 
but another spirit would be 
there. Customers could drink 
wine, of course, but they also 
could get some friendship. Those 
who were hungry but could not 
afford to pay the price would 
yet get something to eat. It 
would take too long to tell of 
the enthusiasm of the beginning. 
Enthusiasm and errors at the 
Same time as you don’t become, 
on the spot, a waiter or a chef. 
Let us just say that from the 
very start the small group of 
Christians wanted first of all to 
serve the ditsrict they lived in. 
Their purpose was not to make 
converts. They wanted to bear 
witness to their faith and 
through direct action to change 
gradually the pagan, inhuman 
atmosphere of this Parisian dis- 
trict. 

IRECT ACTION MEANS 

FIRST AID—financial aid— 
getting a job for the unem- 
ployed. This help is given dis- 
creetly as the house is not a 





welfare association but a busi- 
ness, 

IRECT ACTION ALSO 

MEANS, “WELCOME!” 
Since I have known the place I 
have always met there Catholic 
foreigners, visiting Paris—Ger- 
mans, English, and even Amer- 
ican boys and girls. 

It also means the possibility 
of renting a large back room for 
every kind of meeting, where 
everyone is welcome. This back 
room is important as it is always 
hard to get one nowadays in 
Paris, It also brings many peo- 
ple to the cafe. 

No More Social Barriers 

NOTHER ASPECT OF THIS 

DIRECT ACTION, more dif- 
ficult to define; is also important. 
Some nights you’ll meet in the 
cafe every kind of people—work- 
men, of course; two or three 
priest workers; some painters; 
intellectuals; rich and poor; 
people from the right and from 
the left; a mixture of Christian 
and anarchist; people whose po- 
litical ideas are often directly 
opposed but both having the 
will to work out a more human 
world. 

All, then, is not organized nor 
is it scheduled. (Schedule is not 
a French word.) Yet a lot of 
exchanges are made possible and 


“from them every one gets richer. 


In this little cafe social classes 
are no more. 
Cine Club 

ANY ATTEMPTS HAVE 

BEEN MADE in France for 
the education of the masses. The 
Cine Club is a good and success- 
ful example. The function of the 
Cine Club is the discussion of a 
movie. The discussion is con- 
ducted by someone who knows 
the technique or art of the cin- 
ema. The feature, only one, is 
chosen because of interesting 
technique, art or philosophy. 
The purpose of these meetings 
is to teach people how to judge 
by developing their critical 
sense. The Cine Club is a na- 
tional organization, with regis- 
tration cards, etc. Of course, 
there are more Cine Clubs among 
the students ‘than. among the 


working class. Some people of 
the cafe, Christian ‘and non- 
Christian, started such a club 
which lasted two years. Unfor- 
tunately this club stopped last 
year for financial reasons and 
political ones, too. But at least 
during this period of time 100 
people attended the club and a 
good job was carried out. 


St. John’s Fire 

A SPECTACULAR REVIVAL 

was carried out by people 
of the cafe, the old tradition of 
St. John’s Fire. We revived it, 
not for the tradition itself, but 
for what could be expected from 
it. Those who worked out this 
celebration would have to work 
together. Those who only 
watched would get joy from it. 
June 23 is the solstice, the 
shortest night of the year. 
Through centuries men ‘cele- 
brated this night by pagan rites. 
Later the Church chose this date 
to celebrate the last Prophet of 
the Old Testament, John the 
Baptist. Until the nineteenth 
century the tradition of lighting 
a big fire, of dancing around in 
its light and jumping over it, 
was maintained in France. To 
set up a big fire at night in 
Paris, to dance both folk dances 
and ballroom style, to put on a 
play and attract thousands of 
people caused many problems 
which forced us to adopt a strict 
schedule and organization. This 
job was carried out by a kind of 
committee built up of represent- 
atives from the different youth 
movements. operating on the 
project. As far as I know, it was 
the first time those people from 
the right to the extreme left 


wing were working together. . 


After the ball, young men carry- 
ing torches were surrounded by 
couples wearing regional dress 
and by men playing “binions,” 
a sort of bagpipe. The young 
men with great ceremony light- 
ed up a large bonfire built up in 
a large open square. The Song 
of Unity was started by a priest- 
worker and a song in rounds 
closed the event. An old tradi- 
tion had lived again and among 
those folks a bond of unity had 
been set up. 

doy on Christmas Eve 
A’ CHRISTMAS TIME an- 

other form of popular edu- 
cation was used. Every year 


Christmas eves are organized 
in the cafe. Midnight Mass used 
to be celebrated in the back- 
room. However the spirit of the 
thing was not to take people to 
Mass. It was just to share the 
Christmas joy with those who 
think they have to entertain at 
Christmas without reason, but 
merely from habit. It was to 
serve these people, not to im- 
pose our faith on them, nor to 
make them feel strange or em- 
barrassed by acts or attitudes 
they could not understand. 

I remember this first Christ- 
mas Eve. Every kind of people 
without a family from the 
neighborhood had met there, not 
knowing what to do and yet not 
wanting to sleep. Do people 
sleep on Christmas Eve? In the 
morning we sang quite a bit. A 
good-looking young man con- 


L.>—pun— 


People of Sion, 
behold the Lord 
shall come to 
save the nations, 
and the Lord 
shall make the 
glory of His 

voice to be 

heard in the joy 
of your heart. 


—(Introit of Second 
Sunday of Advent) 


New Martyr of Race Hatred 
(Continued from Page 2) 

and fines. These laws are often not understood by the people. 
When they are arrested for not having a pass the police often 
treat them cruelly. When jailed to wait for the issuance of a pass, 
they meet criminals, thus promoting crime. They cannot afford to 
pay fines. The Smit Committee of 1942 said, after investigation of 
the pass laws that the “harassing and constant interference with 
the freedom of movement of Natives ... gives rise to a burning 
sense’ of grievance and injustice.” 


THE ‘MURDER OF SISTER AIDEN AND OTHER WHITE PEO- 

PLE HAS BEEN DEPLORED by the African National Congress 
which is striving desperately to keep the resistance campaign 
against racial discrimination laws passive. Their plan for freedom 
is to disregard the unjust segregation laws and then submit with- 
out; violence to arrest. Negroes and Indians have done this until the 
jails are full in some places. 

“Mama Went to Fetch Freedom” 

HEN HOMER JACK, CHICAGO RACE RELATIONS WORK- 

ER, visited a Negro leader in South Africa he found that the 
leadét’s wife had been put in jail for non-violent breaking of the 
segregation law. The leader told his small daughter, “Mama went 
to fétch freedom.” 

Mr. Jack went with a small group of Negroes to protest segre- 
gation laws by entering a “location” without a pass. They sang 
their song, “Come back, Africa!” over and over again, with their 
thumbs up, the sign of the freedom movement. 


SoUTH AFRICA’S PROBLEMS ARE’ VERY COMPLEX. They 

are going through many of the phases which England and 
America went through. Our Gold Rush of ’49 to California is like 
theirs to Kimberley and Johannesburg and attracted much the 
same type of person. The taking of the common lands of England 
by the rich, leaving the poor with no pasture, and our pushing 
of the Indians onto poor reservations are like the pushing of the 
African natives into the poor land, leaving the rich pastures to 
the white settlers. Our industrial revolution when people flocked to 


city slums to work in mines and mills is now occurring in South 
Africa. Our Revolution from British rule is much like theirs. 
Taxation without representation is still tyranny. The tea tax is 
still an issue. But the race issue makes the African situation more 
bitter. Our treatment of the race question is not perfect because 
the Negro still cannot vote in some Southern states and he is not 
given equal rights because of segregation and discrimination. But 
the highest law of our land is against segregation and discrimina- 
tion whereas in Africa the laws work against the Negro. But our 
Negroes are all assimilated into the white man’s culture whereas 
in Africa many are still in pagan and tribal customs. The efforts 
of heroic missionaries to teach the faith of Christ in spite of the 
bad example of so-called Christians are often frustrated with both 
Indians and Negroes in America as well as in Africa. Segregation 
in religious institutions gives scandal here as well as there. White 
employers who claim to be Christians but who do not pay living 
wages or deal justly with other races make a mockery of the 
religion they profess. 


Spontaneous Combustiom of Africans 
NLESS WHITE MEN SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL 
there are terrible things in store for both white and colored 
in Africa. One South African editor said, “We are seeing the 
spontaneous combustion of our native people.” The whites have 
the arms but the Negroes have the numbers and right on their 
side. White people must see the Negro as a man with God-given 
rights. Negroes have demanded: 
1. More land. 
2. Higher wages. 


3. Better education. 
4. Votes for all Negroes who pass literary and property tests. 


HESE ARE REASONABLE REQUESTS. The white man must 

sacrifice some of his unjust gains to grant them. But if he does 
not, he may lose all, even his life. If enough whites and Africans 
fan courageously, patiently and unselfishly work for peace and 
justice, Africa will be spared. Sister Aiden and the Martyrs of 
Uganda and all the others who have died for justice in Africa will 
continue to help toward this in Heaven. 


& 


Page 8 


ducted the choir (if I dare to 
call it that!). We were relaxing 
and drinking. I asked him “Who 
are you?” He whispered in my 
ear, “I am a priest.” 
Radio Star Feasts 

‘THERE WERE, TOO, IN THE 

CAFE those feasts with radio 
stars. One of them, a famous 
singer, was called by telephone. 
“Would you like to sing in a very 
common cafe? There will be no 
fee, but you’ll get there a nice 
and living audience, 40% Chris- 
tian and 60% anarchist.” This 
was not quite right but it sound- 
ed well. Today this singer is a 
friend of the house. 


Evening Masses 
Evening Masses took place at 
night about 8 o’clock in the tiny 
Dominican chapel two blocks 
from the cafe. There gathered 


(Continued on Page 6) 











Taught to Hate 
(Continued from Page 2) 
mother only seemed interested 
in how he had acquired such 

an extensive vocabulary. 

Why did my little girl now 
have this prejudice against 
“white peoples” when she, as an 
individual, had suffered no in- 
sults? I searched my mind for 
an answer. Then it struék me: 
My five-year-old had started to 
school. 

Personally, I have no objec- 
tion to my children attending an 
all-Negro school; but I do ob- 
ject to their attending an in- 
ferior school. That is the evil 
of segregation. The minority 
group will get the leftovers 
while the o.her group will get 
the cream. The situation is not 
a healthy one for either group. 
Many little brown boys and 
girls, when. they repeat the 
Pledge of Allegiance, say: 

“I pledge allegiance to the 
flag of the United States of 


America and to the Republic 
for which it stands; one nation 
indivisible, with liberty and 
justice for all . .. but me.” 





XU 





petal ara a ee 


ae 


eee 


ee eee 


eemesieiiimetin and taeda oe ee 
: 


meebs oe ~ 


Page 4 


..» the Just Man who was giv- 
en by YOU as a spouse to the 
Virgin Mother of God, and was 
placed over YOUR family as a 
faithful and prudent servant. 
(From the Preface of the Mass 
on the feast of St. Joseph) 





Behold, a Virgin shall con- 
ceive, and shall bring forth a 
Son and His name shall be called 
Emmanuel. (Isaiah 7, 14—Em- 
ber Wednesday in Advent) 





Sing joyfully to God, all the 
earth, serve ye the Lord with 
gladness. Come before His pres- 
ence with exceeding great Joy. 
For the Lord He is God. (Offer- 
tory: Sunday within the Octave 


of the Epiphany) 


Charlot (Comte of 
Designs for Christian Living. 


CATHOLIO INTERRACIALIST 


Christian Fire at 
Burnley Hearth 


Maria Laach Farm, 
Burnley, Virginia 

EN NEW STAFFWORKERS 

from three Friendship Houses 
were welcomed to Friendship 
House on All Saints’ Day after 
a course of instruction given by 
the National Director of Friend- 
ship House, Betty Schneider, 
during the month of October. 
The Friendship House farm at 
Burnley, Virginia, provided a 
beautiful setting for the course. 

When the new staffworkers 
arrived from many distant 
points, the leaves were just be- 
ginning to change here. By the 
Feast of Christ the King the 
Virginia hills were a riot of 
variegated colors. After a few 
cold, rainy days the weather was 
bright and sunny by day, and 
crispy clear and frosty by night. 

Most providential was the fact 
that three priests from Belgium 
were there so that the Blessed 
Sacrament was with us during 
the course. It was especially 
good that Kather Albert Clae- 
part, LH.M., a friend of Canon 
Cardijn, was able to be at the 
farm fo. almost the _ entire 
month to offer Mas: in the 
chapel every morning, and to in- 
spire all vith his talks on the 
Mass and Catholic principles of 
social actior. 

The discussions were held in- 
formally in the old-fashioned 
panelled living room of the farm- 
house. All gathered around the 


We Pian Christmas Gifts for Poor 





December, 1952 q 





fireplace for the “hearth to 
heart” talks. (This is the last 
one like this.—Ed.) Most of the 
inspiring lectures were given by 
Betty Schneider. There were also 
lectures by distinguished visit- 
ors: Margaret Garrity of the 
National Catholic Welfare Coun- 
cil in Washington; Mrs. Sarah 
Patton Boyle of Charlottesville, 
Va.; Dr. Euphemia Haynes of 
Miner’s College; Miss Loretta 
Butler of Washington; Merle 
Nolde of Minnesota; and Fr. 
Charles Denys, the pastor of St. 
Joh:.’s Church in Orange, Vir- 
ginia. Sometimes the new work- 
ers led the discussions. _- 
Accomplish “the Impossible” 
O© GATHER ROUND THE 
fireplace to discuss the 
Friendship House way of life 
was very good. The setting was 
quite romantic, especially when 
the logs in the fire crackled and 
sputtered while the little apos- 
tolic family sang Compline. But 
the concept of the great apos- 
tolic adventure in the minds of 
all was actually very realistic. 
The chalienge to answer our 
Holy Father’s summons to ac- 
complish ‘the impossible’ was 


MARTIN de PORRES FRIENDSHIP HOUSE 
4233 S. Indiana Avenue 
Chicago (5, Ill. 


THE FIRST SUNDAY DUR- 
ING THIS season of Ad- 
vent, when the Church’s liturgy 
stresses the second coming of 
Christ by looking forward to 
Judgment day, as the Jewish 
people under the Old Law looked 
for the birth of the Messiah, 
we will hold our annual open 
house, also our tenth birthday 
party. All old and new friends 
are invited. Among old-timers 
we expect to see Ann Harrigan 
Makletzoff. Monsignor Hillen- 
brand will be our guest speaker. 
Over seven thousand invitations 
have been sent, so there should 
be quite a turn-out. 
Baskets for Christ’s Poor 
HRIST, IN THE EVER- 
PRESENT POOR, at our 
door constantly, reminds us of 
the long way we have to go to 
reach the day when each man 
will have the “modest fortune” 
the Pope speaks of, to make it 
easier for him to climb the lad- 





Ann Harrigan Makletzoff, 
founder of 
Chicago I'riendship House 


der of sanctity. Not having the 
“modest fortune” ourselves, we 
must turn again and again to 
our many friends, most of whom 
are without the “modest for- 
tune” either, in sending out our 
begging letter. We are sending 
the appeal at Christmas time 
when so mafiy who have noth- 
ing materially to bring the spirit 
of joy and hope into the season, 
are ringing our bell asking that 





Let Your Group Know About Friendship House 


And Other Lay Work for Christ 
SK BETTY SCHNEIDER to speak to you when she goes 
west in January and February. She has worked at Friend- 
ship House almost singe its U.S. beginnings. Betty is a 
charming ond powerful speaker. You will enjoy and benefit 
from her talk. Any offering you can make to her will help 
finance her work for the spread of the love of Christ and ~ 
our neighbor. You will make new friends for Friendship 


House. 


Write to Betty and see if she can fit you into her sched- 
ule. She’ll be going from Chicago by way of North Dakota, 
Montana, and Spokane, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, in 
early January. She’ll be around Portland the rest of January. 
About Feb. 1 she plans to go to San Francisco and Los An- 
geles. On Feb. 16 she’ll be in San Antonio, Texas. She'll 
come back to Chicago by way of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kan- 


sas City. 


If you’re not anywhere near this route, get in touch with 
Betty or one of the Friendship Houses which is closest to you 
and you can get a speaker who will give your group a new 
outlook on life, be it a school, sodality, Newman Club, vet- 


erans’ group, or women’s club. 


Write to Betty at 4233 S. Indiana Ave., Chicago 15, Ill. 
or any Friendship House on this page. 


~ 


accepted with intellectual real- 
ism and great joy of spirit. 

Gaiety was the mood of all 
who were setting out to hasten 
the reign of Christ in every 
sphere of twentieth-century life. 
The answer to secularism in per- 
sonal life was seen to be a day- 
to-day living of the Mass as a 
consecration of one’s self and all 
one’s activities in and through 
Christ. Secularism, which ex- 
cludes God from politics, eco- 
nomics, and especially human 
relations, must be met by a re- 
centering of all in Christ under 
Whose dominion all creation 
may glorify the Father. 


Lay people have heard much 
about “restoring all things.” 
Sometimes it seems to be a very 
far-away goal. Often it is hard 
to realize what it would be like 
to live in a “restored” world. 
Some hint of what this would 
be like could have been learned 
from our experience in Burnley. 
The individualism of modern life, 
which extends even into religion, 
was exorcised, and each day was 
sanctified, with a community 
“missa recitata,” Prime, the ro- 
sary, and Compline. There was 
sacrifice, to be sure, but it was 
brightened by love. There was 
work, i. ut it was work with joy. 
There was study, but it was 
study with clarity of vision and 
a thirst for truth. And all be- 
came worsh‘p through apostolic 
dedication. 

Such was the experience of 
those who had the privilege of 
working in one small fragment 
of twentieth-century life cen- 
tered in Christ. But there is no 
use in keeping it a secret. All 
are determined to see this Christ- 
life overflow into the temporal 
order, for this is the great work 
of lay people in our century. 


—“Bud” Gerrity 
———_—_—_—_—_————— 


. we help them in some way to 


have food on the table and toys 
for their children on this great 
feast day. Our volunteers have 
been working with the staff, vis- 
iting the many families in need 
of our help. They try to drop a 
note of cheer, telling them that 
we will give baskets to as many 
as we can beg food, toys, mon- 
ey for. The families understand, 
too, that Friendship House has 
always shared their gifts. With 
much of the free time of our 
volunteers being spent in family 
visiting, we have few to work 
on the dull, monotonous, tire- 
some, and seemingly unending 
task of addressing, folding, and 
mailing our begging letter, so 
essential when our funds are 
low. But our faith is not lack- 
ing for we have just finished 
& novena to Blessed Martin, one 
of the intentions being that 
workers be sent into the vine- 
yard. 

Workers Go and Come 
ANDY ZEKO IS LEAVING 

for Kansas and the Passion- 
ist Brothers. Wayne Keith has 
taken a leave of absene® and is 
working hard parking cars for 
a living. Greg Robinson is the 
only man left, with nine girls 
on the staff. Julie Pyles, for- 
merly a Washington, D. C., vol- 
unteer, is now part of the Chi- 
cago House staff. She decided 
upon this vocation quite sudden- 

(Continued on Page 6) 








4 


bili hina 


Innocent babes were slain for Christ, : 
a wicked king. Now they follow the Lam 
without ceasing, “Glory be to Thee, O LOR) 
Antiphon at Vespers of Holy Innocents, Ds 





Christies Pratt Si ieee 


c IS DELIGHTFUL THAP “the oth 
there*can be many middlemen our Frie: 
in giving, when one thinks of fore mea 
the many involved in selling. vide for 1 
We hit a new angle on this this nfet a 1: 
week, Each year school children ceived a 
collect canned goods. Our do-_ she wish 
nors supply food or money to the list t 
buy chickens. The city mar- She was 
kets give vegetables as we go visiting 
begging from stand to stand in who wa 
the wholesale produce section at House fo 
Washington Market. These ar; te her fi 
ticles Friendship House makes band is 
into Christmas baskets for fami- she’s no 
lies in the neighborhood. Each" she could 
gift has several middlemen from it is her 
the donor to the family. other fan 
While checking addresses and whole spi 
needs of -hose who are some of _ giving to 





NOT ENOUGH MEN’S CLOTHE: 


Gregory Robinson (at right), staffworke: 
at Chicago Friendship House, was able to giv 
at left. But he never has enough to give to 
clothing. PLEASE SEND MEN’S CLOTHIN: 









To honor the Christ Child, who was be 
pressed people, I am sending $....%......, 
ship House’s work for the reign of the King 

Please send to the address of any Frien 
of them, on this page. Oe 


December, 1952 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


« Page 6 











slain for Christ, sucklings were killed by 
y follow the Lamb without spot and cry 
ye to Thee, O LORD!” (Apocalypse 14,4— 
Holy Innocents, December 28) 


nf He 


THAP 
idlemen 
inks of 
selling. 
his this 
hildren 
dur do- 
ney to 
y mar- 
we go 
tand in 
‘tion at 
ese ars 
makes 
r fami- 

Each" 
n from 


es and 
ome of 


MEN’S CLOTHES TO GIVE 
right), staffworker for about four years 
ise, was able to give some clothes to man 
enough to give to all the men who need 
MEN’S CLOTHING! 






Child, who was born poor, of an op- 
ling $....%......, to promote Friend- 
e reign of the King of Love and Peace. 


dress of any Friendship House, or all 


Charlot 


Anonymous 


“the others” in the ending of 
our Frieidship House grace be- 
fore meals, “May the Lord pro- 
vide for the wants of others,” we 
met a lady who last year re- 
ceived a basket. But this year 
she wishes to give her place on 
the list to a family more in need. 
She was happy to have us come 
visiting and introduced Nicole, 
who was visiting Friendship 
House for the afternoon, and me 
te her five children. Her hus- 
band is working this year, so 
she’s no longer on Welfare. But 
she could use a bit of help. Still, 
it is her desire to give to some 
other family. That action is the 
whole spirit of the Christ Child’s 
giving to all of us. -Mary Ryan 





Portland Council Defends Interracial Church 
BLESSED MARTIN FRIENDSHIP HOUSE 
3310 N. Williams Avenue 
Portland 12, Oregon 


HE LAY APOSTOLATE, al- 

though still in its infancy 
here, is slowly maturing and has 
left an indelible mark on many 
with whom it comes -in contact. 
The dedication and sacrifice re- 
quired of Christ’s lay apostles 
are strange and meaningless 
words to a materialistic and sec- 
ularistic society. We must con- 
stantly employ new techniques 
and alter our programs in order 
to adapt ourselves to the diver- 
sity of needs and situations 
which present themselves, The 
refreshing apostolic wind has 
stirred the sluggish lethargy of 
many complacent souls and has 
moved hearts to a depth of love 
and the desire to restore all 
things in Christ. 


Young Workers Want 
Christian Lives 

The Young Christian Worker 
Movement under the spiritual 
direction of Father Emil Kies 
have been examining the life of 
a worker at home, in his reli- 
gious life, on the job, in his 
social life and in his educational 
and political life. Thus it was 
found that while young workers 
have a divine vocation, the very 
conditions of their life often 
make it practically impossible 
of achievement. How have oth- 


ers placed Christ in the center 
of their lives? They have found 
out what He would want by 
studying the Gospels and using 
them as a pattern for life, and 
by participating in daily Mass. 
The dignity of work has been 
understood by so few... yet 
Christ sanctified work and spent 
the greater part of His life show- 
ing that work is the way we 
must live ... the way we must 
be sanctified. 


Bob Kremer, Sheila Rieber 
and Jo Layman were instru- 
mental in organizing the fellows’ 
and girls’ YCW teams. Through 
their daily sacrifices, prayers, 
study and example the seed has 
been sown for another of God’s 
apostolates in Portland. There 
is a tremendous need for YCW 
and we pray God will bless this 
work abundantly. 

Interracial Church Moves In 
ECENTLY A GROUP OF 
CIVIC LEADERS went to a 

meeting, of the City Council to 
hear the protests of white resi- 
dents against the establishment 
of Mt. Sinai Inter-racial Com- 
munity Church in their neigh- 
borhood. Despite the strong op- 
position, it was voted down 
unanimously and Mt. Sinai now 
(Continued on Page 6) 


Few Negroes Left in Georgetown 
ST. PETER CLAVER CENTER 
814 Tth St, S.W. 
Washington 4, D. C. 


EORGETOWN, THE OLD- 

EST inhabited section of the 
city, a thriving community be- 
fore the Capitol moved onto the 
hill to disturb its serenity, is 
being restored. 

The process of whitewashing 
old bricks, reconstructing little 
sunken patios and equipping ev- 
ery door with new brass knock- 
ers started several years ago. 

Of course, the old inhabitants 
... and the new real estate in- 
terests who provide the cash, 
have been most careful to pre- 
serve, despite the installing of 
plumbing and gas heat, that air 
of antiquity that MAKES 
Georgetown. 

Along with resurrecting street 
signs (in Old English) there are 
other signs in “Old Georgetown” 
of its attic mustiness in thought 
and attitude. 

One senses that the culture 
of ivy and antique shop is re- 
stricted, in its subtle superiority, 
to whites. At one time in the 
city’s history white inhabitants 
more or less abandoned George- 
town’s dilapidated and outdated 
dwellings for the newer exclu- 
sive sections of the city. 

Georgetown was left to the 
Negro inhabitants, who lived 
there in great numbers until re- 
cently when real estate realized 
it was missing a good thing. 

HEN RESTORATION BE- 


GAN, there were many . 


really rotten spots in George- 
town as bad as any slum court. 

I recently visited a friend who 
just moved into the basement 


of one of these former slum 
dwellings. 

The transformation was as 
expensive as it was astounding. 
My friend told me that the two- 
story, two-room house leaning 
against his had just sold for 
$29,000. 

We walked down to the end of 
the block where restoration had 
just started and watched work- 
men tearing down everything 
but the skeleton of a row of 
frame houses which had just 
been condemned. 

IT IS A SCANDAL IN THIS 
TOWN THAT PEOPLE GO ON 
LIVING IN HOUSES READY 
TO FALL APART FOR DEC- 
ADES AND THEY ARE NOT 
CONDEMNED UNTIL REAL 
ESTATE SEES PROFIT IN 
BUILDING A PARKING AREA 
OR SWANK HIGH RENT 

(Continued on Page 7) 


Harlem Madonna Flat's Refrigerator 


Is Dead! 


Workers Visit South 
FRIENDSHIP HOUSE - 
OF HARLEM 
34 W. 135th St. 
New York 37, New York 


THE HARLEM FRIENDSHIP 
HOUSE family is all togeth- 
er again. Anne Foley back from 
her vacation in Montreal and 
Quebec; Muriel Zimmermann and 
Mary Ryan from New Orleans, 
where together with Helen Do- 
lan, Florence Heffner and El- 
eanor Karvellis they visited Hel- 
en Caldwell Day, Father Fichter, 
the Catholic Center at the Lou- 
isianna State University, Sr. 
Mary Paul, and the Caritas 
House in New Orleans. They’ve 
had much to tell us of the prog- 
ress in southern racial relations. 
Also our six new staff workers 
are returned from Burnley and 
their information course. They 
returned with bouquets of lovely 
chrysanthemums and bitter- 
sweet, reminding those of us in 
Harlem how truly beautiful the 
country can be at this time. So 
few of our neighbors have had 
the opportunity to see and enjoy 
the fall foliage—instead there 
is the smoke and dirt of the big 
city with the ever-increasing 
sound of the fire sirens to herald 
winter. 
THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE 
KING was celebrated appro- 
priately enough by a feast f& 
welcome a new member into the 
Kingdom—Collin Robert Boyd, 
the youngest son of Jean and 
Tom Boyd, both former staff 
workers, was baptized that after- 
noon and the feast followed at 
Madonna Flat. Father Dugan 
gave the Baptismal cake a spe- 
cial blessing. 
At ONE MONDAY NIGHT 
FORUM, Madison Jones 
spoke on cooperative ‘housing, 
which was of great interest to 
us and to our neighbors who 
are being displaced by the new 
project. Maurice Leahy gave a 
lively and most enjoyable talk 
on the “Chester-Belloc monster” 
with some sidelights on Father 
McNabb. Betty Schneider, our 
National Director, spoke on So- 
cial Action. Father Richard 
Hanley’s subject was “Dynamite 
in South Africa.” The volun- 
teers also had a very interesting 
speaker in Dr. James Brown of 
Fordham who gave us a history 
of the political parties in the 
U. S.—very appropriate just 
prior to the elections. 


All Saints’ Party 
Instead of the usual Halloween 
party this year the volunteers 
celebrated an All Saints’ Party 
at which all of the guests were 
called upon to act out in charade 
form the name or life of a Saint. 
Audrey Perry was a huge suc- 
cess as St. Dymphna (patron 
saint of mental patients, in case 
you didn’t know). Needless to 
say, a good time was had by all 


(Continued on Page 8) 


Saviour. 
Advent) 


Jesus. 
people from their sins. 
thew 1, 21—Octave, Solemnity 
of St. Joseph) 


Rejoice greatly, O daughter of 
Sion. Shout for joy, O daughter 
of Jerusalem. Behold your King 
comes to you, the holy One and 
(Ember Saturday in 





And you shall call His name 
For He shall save His 
(Mat- 














E WAS A GOOD FRIEND, although he joined us late in 

life. No more high living for him from then on with 
steaks and roast and ice cream! He saved our unglamorous 
leftovers until they could be used in soups or casserole dishes 
or new dessert combinations. He saved us a lot of money we 
didn’t have. But his hard-werking motor has now stopped 
forever, says the repairman. Being merely man-made, he 
could leave no son to carry on his work. 

Do you have an apostolic-minded refrigerator who would 
like to join Friendship House? Please write a letter about 
him to Anne Foley mentioning size because Madonna Fiat’s 
kitchen is pint-size. Or can you send a donation to buy us a 
new one? Or even to furnish food to put in it? Please send to 
ANNE FOLEY—Box 16—34 W. 135th St., New York 37, N. Y. 


This day you shall know that 
the LORD will come and save 
us. And in the morning you shall 
see His glory. (Introit CHRIST- 
MAS EVE) 


Ch 
Designs for Christian Living) 


arlot (Courtesy 








ES A I RR RE IE 


paiinne hgh Aran, analy an 


Ae Renan te maine 


PE Pee reae matmny 0 


eee 





OORT pat 


nent andi none eee 


Page 6 


« 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


December, 1952 





Portland Council 
Defends Church 


(Continued from Page 4) 
has full sanction to begin serv- 
ices. One of the strong points 
of the dissenting neighbors was 
that their property values would 
go down. But statistics have 
repeatedly proved this reason- 
ing to be false. Property values 
go down when a Negro moves 
in only in the eyes of the white 
man because he does not want 
to live near a Negro. Discrimi- 
nation and segregation are in- 
trinsic evils which have no place 
in a Christian Democracy. We 
heartily commend The Urban 
League, Jewish-Anti-Defamation 
League and the City Council for 
the part they played in this 
fight for justice. 


Mothers’ Club Children’s Party 
LL OUR LITTLE WITCHES 
and goblins were on their 
best behavior at the Halloween 
party given them by the Moth- 
ers’ Club of Friendship House. 
The mothers worked hard for 
the party; making decorations, 
caramelling apples, making 
cookies, planning games and 
rizes. And we certainly had a 
rand time ... that is, all but 
two of the younger children, 
who were so frightened by some 
of the more gruesome masks 
that their fears and tears could 
not be calmed until masks were 
ruled out for the remainder of 
the party! 

We are grateful for many 
things this month. Ellen Reh- 
kopf is feeling much better after 
undergoing an operation in St. 
Vincent’s Hospital. She is con- 
valescing at the home of our 
good friend, Bertha Skelley. Lat- 
er she'll go to other friends. Our 
new director, Mary Lou Hen- 
nessy, who is from St. Paul, 
Minn., and who has been work- 
ing with F.H. in New York, -is 
expected to join us some time 
this month. (Our family is 
slowly growing.) Claire LaReau 
of the Chicago House is with us 
now. Claire’s four years Friend- 
ship House experience is an in- 
valuable asset. We are very 
happy she is with us, and we 
love her just the same, even if 
She doesn’t ride a bicycle! 


—Pat Delehanty 





STATEMENT REQUIRED BY THE 
ACT OF AUGUST 24, 1912, AS AMEND- 
ED BY THE ACTS OF MARCH 3, 
1933, AND JULY 2, 1946 (Title 39, 
United States Code, Section 233) 
SHOWING THE OWNERSHIP, MAN- 
AGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION 

Of Catholic interracialist published 
bi-monthly July Aug., monthly Sept.- 
June, at Chicago, Ill. for Oct. 1, 1952. 


1. The names and addresses of the 
ublisher, editor, managing editor, and 

usiness managers are:. Publisher, 
Friendship House, 4233 So. Indiana 
Ave., Chicago 15; Editor, Mabel C, 
Knight, 4233 So. Indiana Ave, Chicago, 
Ill.; Managing editor, None; Business 
manager, Wayne Keith, 4233 So. In- 
diana Ave., Chicago, IIl. 

2. The owners are (Membership Cor- 
orations): Friendship House of Har- 
lem, Inc., 34. W. 135th St., New York 
37, N, Y.; Friendship House of Chi- 
cago, Inc., 4233 So. Indiana Ave., Chi- 
cago, Ill; St. Peter Claver Center, 
Inc., 814 7th St., S.W., Washington, 
D. ©; _Blessed Martin de Porres 
Friendship House, Inc.. 3310 N. Wil- 
liams Ave., Portland, Oregon. 

8. The known bondholders, mort- 
gagees, and other security holders own- 
ing or holding 1 per cent or more of 
total amount of bonds, mortgages, or 
other securities are: None. 


4. Paragraphs 2 and 8 include, in 
cases where the stockholder or security 
holder appears upon the books of the 
company as trustee or in any other 
fiduciary relation, the name of the per- 
son or corporation for whom such trus- 
tee is acting; also the statements in 
the two paragraphs show the affiant’s 
full knowledge and belief as to the cir- 
cumstances and conditions under whicn 
stockholders and security holders who 
do not appear upon the books of the 
company as trustees, hold stock and 
securities in a capacity other than that 
of a bona fide owner. 

5. The average number of copies of 
each is3ue of. this publication sold or 
distributed through the mails or other- 
wise, to paid subscribers during the 
12 months preceding the date shown 
above was: Monthly, 

(Signed) MABEL C. KNIGHT, Editor 

Sworn to and subscribed before me 
this 23rd day of Sept., 1952. 

(Seal) FRANK W. HENRY 

(My commission expires Feb. 14, 1952). 


Paris Cafe 


(Continued from Page 3) 
the small Christian community, 
twenty or thirty persons all to- 
gether. Among them were youth 
hostellers coming back from their 
week-end camp, wearing short 
pants and heavy shoes. They 
hitch-hiked and were lucky to 
get there in time. It looked like 
a family meeting. Waiting for 
late-comers we chattered in the 
room close to the chapel. Then 
when everyone was there the 
priest slowly read the Mass. 
Each of us could speak, but the 
atmosphere was more like a 
meditation than a discussion. 
We were not in a hurry as we 
had all the evening. So we used 
to take a long hour preparing 
those Masses, looking in gospels 
and epistles for a food for which 
we were hungry. Then we en- 
tered the mystery of the Mass. 
Around 10 P.M. we used to meet 
for supper with non-Christian 
friends. There was always wine 
and songs until midnight. To- 
day the chapel is closed. Eve- 
ning Sunday Masses are no long- 
er possible. However, twice a 
week, in a simple flat, some 


We Plan 
Christmas Gifts 


(Continued from Page 4) 
ly while “volunteering” her serv- 
ices on Maria Laach Farm dur- 
ing the staff worker training 
session, Little did anyone real- 
ize it would develop into a full 
time job! Dixie Ann McCleary 
from Detroit and Stella Werner 
from Omaha are now staffwork- 
ers also. 
Fr. O’Keefe Explains Mass 
Father O’Keefe has given a 
dry Mass demonstration in two 
sessions, but don’t let the ex- 
pression “dry” fool you. The 
talks were anything but dry, 
Father showed the development 
of the Mass into its present 
form, the unity of each prayer 
as part of the whole Mass, and 
most important, our role as par- 
ticipants in the Holy Sacrifice. 
The lectures have given us a 
greater understanding of the 
Church’s liturgy. 
@—Delores Price 


Christians meet at night to of- 
fer the Sacrifice. 
F YOU EVER GO TO PARIS 
to the cafe “1*1 Boulevard de 
la Gare,” ask for Pierre Lacaze, 
the boss. He is a good fellow. 


Views of the Month 


(Continued from Page 1) 


Officials Indicted—Refuse Negro Vote 


EW ORLEANS, La. — Five 

vote commissioners were in- 
dicted by a federal grand jury 
here recently for conspiracy to 
“injure, oppress, threaten and 
intimidate citizens in the free 
exercise and enjoyment of right 
and privileges secured to them 
by the Constitution of the Unit- 
ed States.” 


The five defendants named in 
the indictment were poll com- 
missioners in the first precinct 
of the first ward. The fraudu- 
lent practices in question con- 
cerned the 1950 Democratic pri- 
mary in Plaquomine parish 
where no Negroes are regis- 
tered. 


Private Schools for S. C. Negroes If... 
HARLESTON, S. C.—A constitutional amendment paving the 
way for a private school system for Negroes if the United 

States Supreme Court outlaws public school segregation has been 

approved by South Carolina voters by better than two to one. 
The South Carolina amendment would not abolish the state’s 

public school system but would permit the Legislature to decide 
the school set-up if segregation were ruled unconstitutional. 


Priest Says Fair Employment Is Duty 


ETROIT, Mich.—A two-day 

conference here on problems 
in the Negro welfare field was 
attended by 35 priests who work 
in colored communities. 

The Midwest Clergy Confer- 
ence on Negro Welfare, organ- 
ized in 1930, meets twice a year. 
Father Henry Offer, S.S.J., of 
St. George’s parish, Cardoni, 
was host to the conference. 

Father Vincent Thilman, 
C.S.C., of South Bend, Ind., said 
that priests and people should 


take an active part in promoting 
“fair employment practices leg- 
islation” as “part of our Chris- 
tian duty.” 

Father Patrick Curran of 
Chicago, spoke on “The Chang- 
ing Parish and What to Do 
About It.” He said a pastor 
should have a definite program 
of welcoming Negroes in a 
changing parish by accepting 
them in parish organizations 
and encouraging their children 
to attend the parochial school. 


School Segregation Out, Says Prosecutor 


CSCI Ass, Ohio—Assignment of pupils to public schools ‘“‘can- 
not be limited by consideration of race, creed or color,” C. 





Their Next Meal 


A million homeless Korean refugees face starvation this 
winter. In past months they and their children have been 
living on roots. 


YOU Can Help Them— 


The KOREA ADOPT-A-FAMILY program, cooperating with 
Maryknoll Sisters Clinic and the Women’s Sodality Union, 
will get your gift direct to Korea’s needy. If you are blest 
with $5 you can spare, won’t you buy a food package today 
for one of the anguished families of devastated Korea? 


Include me in the Adopt-A-Family program: 
DION. cols eco hese ee ee eee se katat ne cede cea eerie *- 
Street eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ee eet esn 


City and REO ss cin 5 aetna snd s4neeee kalind ba ncede cos 


More is miy comtetnution GOS, icin ncicccccncssecevncsee 


Korean Adopt-A-Family Program 
National Council of Catholic Women 
cooperating with War Relief Services, N.C,W.C. 
350 Fifth Avenue New York 1, N. Y. 
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward E. Swanstrom 





Watson Hover, Hamilton County prosecutor, ruled lately. He held 
that the practice must be stopped. 

In Glendale, Negro children have been assigned to Eckstein 
School and all other children of that city have been assigned to 
Congress St. School. 

In the opinion, issued in response to a request by J. C. Richard- 
son, president of the Glendale school district, Mr. Hover observed 
that “the problem of race relationships has been, since the incep- 
tion of our country, and still is, an exceedingly difficult one for 
many reasons, most of which have no foundation in our laws as 
they are written and interpreted, but are based rather upon long 


standing social customs.” 


“Any segregation of races in public affairs, particularly in the 


been made,” the opinion added. 


Seminar 
EWANEE, Tenn.—HBight 
leading figures in religious 

instruction at the University of 
the South have resigned -their 
academic positions, effective 
next June, in protest of a ban 
on the admission of Negro stu- 
dents to the University’s School 
of Theology. 

“So great is our love for this 
cause, so great is our concern 
that Sewanee wrestle with this 
issue manfully and objectively, 


: field of education, would be to undo most of the progress that has 


Profs Resign—v.s. Segregation 


that we have come, after much 
agonizing searching of con- 
science, to the conclision that 
we must resign,” the group de- 
clared. 

The eight, seven of whom are 
Episcopal clergymen, included 
the dean and six faculty"mem- 
bers of the theological seminary 
and the chaplain of the univer- 
sity. Only one member of the 
seminary faculty will remain. 


é 


Rosedale Playground Open to All 
RJASHINGTON, D. C.—The D. C. Board of Recreation voted 
recently to integrate “white” Rosedale Playground, thus end- 
ing in impressive victory the year-long campaign of the Interracial 
Workshop and some 40 other civic groups in the District. Rose- 
dale, located at 17th and Gales Sts., N.E. in the heart of a 50-50 
Negro-white neighborhood, became to many a symbol of the 
struggle against Jim Crow in Washington. 

After years of futile appeal to the Recreation Department, a 
group of citizens in September, 1951, inspired by the non-violent 
direct action technique of the Interracial Workshop, formed the 
Citizens’ Committee to Integrate Rosedale Playground. The project 
was met with intense hostility and bitterness. 

Mass picketing and poster walks, waiting lines at the gates, 
illegal arrests and police brutality all contributed to making Rose- 
dale a city-wide issue. Without non-violent direct action Rosedale 


would still be ‘under study.” 


The victory at Rosedale is another wedge in the pattern of 
segregation and a tribute to the very practical, Christian technique 


of non-violent direct action. 


Credit Union Builds Homes 


OLGAN, Ont.—A Roman 

Catholic church’s credit un- 
ion at Colgan serves the finan- 
cial needs of both Protestants 
and Catholics, reports Dr. Ralph 
A. Felton, of Drew University, 
who recommends a similar or- 
ganization to Protestant denomi- 
nations. 

He says the credit union has 
helped fourteen families to buy 
farms and eight men to start in 
business. It has built ten houses 


that are to be rented to young 
couples, and has made a hun- 
dred loans on livestock. It makes 
one hundred loans a year. One- 
fourth of the loans are made to 
Protestants. 

According to Dr. Felton, fif- 
teen or more churches are help- 
ing their young couples to start 
farming and business enter- 
prises, thus averting their mov- 
ing out of their home communi- 
ties.. 


Co. Ce a 6 pee et ‘ees alle 2 ok ccs 


mh ct oF oO Oo. = © oe oe 


8 OB8SSSSSSSSSS—————————————eeeeEeEeESse 





December, 1952 





CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


How to Make a Christian Home 


CHRIST IN THE HOME, Raoul 
Inc., New York, 1951. $3.50. 


HIS VERY ENJOYABLE 

BOOK is divided into four 
sections: Introductory Readings, 
Marriage, The Home, and Train- 
ing. I enjoyed the book because 
it is written so informally, so 
beautifully, and with a sense of 
humor. The introductory read- 
ings inspired this reader to do 
some soul searching, especially 
the section called “What Kind 
of a Soul Am I?” These pages 
also convinced me that married 


saints are the need of our age 
because this is the age in which 
the indissolubility of marriage 
is under attack. 

In the section on Marriage, 
Fr. Plus writes about such 
thought-provoking topics as 
Preparation for Marriage, the 
Four Bonds of Conjugal Union, 
Marriage and the Bible, Mar- 
riage and the Eucharist. These 
are only a few of the interest- 
ing topics which Fr. Plus ex- 
plores thoroughly. Although the 
three bonds of conjugal union— 
bonds of intellects, souls, and 
hearts—are important, Fr. Plus 
stresses the necessity of the 
bond of conscience. Husband 
and wife must agree on the ne- 
cessity for obeying God’s laws 
and have the same standards of 
judging right and wrong. 

In the section on the Home, 
the author stresses the fact that 
Parenthood is a _ Profession. 
Motherhood and fatherhood are 
exciting, adventurous, challeng- 
ing professions. As I read the 
descriptions of the virtues of a 
good parent, I could easily agree 
that it is a challenge to meet 
the requirements in these pro- 
fessions. 

In describing the virtues of a 
good wife, Fr. Plus asserts that 
a married woman should not 
abandon her intellectual life. 


Plus, S.J. Frederick Pustet Co., 


Man wants “an Eve who can see 
the world otherwise than 
through the narrow dimensions 
of the ring she wears on her 
finger and does not concentrate 
all her attention on her jams 
and jellies or her next new out- 
fit, a woman who thinks before 
all else of her home, but precise- 
ly because she wants her home 
to be attractive and herself to 
be attractive in that home, seeks 
to enlarge her horizons and to 
be a real person.” 


How can any individual suc- 
ceed in any enterprise? It takes 
Supernatural help. If a man and 
wife want to establish a happy 
home, they should pray together 
and for each other. Our Lord 
said “Without Me, you can do 
nothing.” How can any two in- 
dividuals hope to live together 
in peace and harmony unless 
they seek divine aid? And as 
Fr, Plus tells us, “If Our Sav- 
ior’s words ‘Where two or three 
are gathered together in My 
Name, I am in the midst of 


them’ apply ‘to strangers and 
persons indifferent to another, 
how much more significant they 
are for two beings destined to 
be but one heart and soul.” 

The section on training is ex- 
tremely well done. Reading 
about education to the supernat- 
ural, one realizes that such edu- 
cation is more than teaching 
piety. It means teaching the 


child that he is a living taber- ° 


nacle of God, having received 
his divine life on the day of his 
Baptism. The importance of 
teaching the presence of Christ 
on the altars of our churches 
prior to the reception of First 
Communion is explained along 
with some welcome suggestions 
how this education can be im- 
parted. It was especially inter- 


Magazines to Asia 


PEOPLE IN ASIA want to read about Christ and His 


Church. They’d like to see that pile of Catholic maga- 
zines that you’ve read. In thanksgiving for the gift of the 
Faith to you, please send them to 


Rev. John Evangelist, O.F.M.Cap. 


Amalashram, Srirangum P.O. 
South India 
or 
Catholic Information Service 
(They ask especially for the Catholic Digest 
and the Sign) P.O. Box 980 
Colombo, Ceylon 


You'll Want to Read... 


“Red Thread in the Mau Mau 
Terror,” by Douglas Hyde, 
former Communist in Eng- 
land, in AMERICA for No- 
vember 22. 

About JOMO KENYATTA, 

handsome, bearded, of un- 
doubted intelligence, with def- 
inite qualities of leadership. He 
went to London from Kenya-and 
is said to have met with indigni- 


HYMNS FOR CHRISTMAS 


Novena for Christmas record, by 
Monsignor Hellriegel's Children's 
Schola-Cantorum of Holy Cross 
Parish, St. Louis. A long playing 
record, 2 sides on a ten inch record. 
Lasting about 20 min 33-1/3 
rpm. It includes Hymns, Prayers and 
Gregorian Chants, rendered with 


wonderful spirit, to be played over 


whole 


and over throughout the 
long 


Christmas Season. Requires 
play equipment. Price $3.85. 

Catalog Sent on Request 

PIO DECIMO PRESS 

Box 53, Baden Station 
Saint Louis 15, Mo. 








ties which drove him to the left- 
ist camp and to Moscow, which 
was interested in colonial af- 
fairs. Whether he is now a Com- 
munist or not is uncertain. He 
heads the dreaded Mau Mau 
which swears to drive the white 
man and his religion out of 
Africa. 
w * * 

“United Nations’ Uneasy Vil- 
lage,” by John McKeon, in 
COMMONWEAL for Nov. 7. 
BOUT PARKWAY VILLAGE 

in Manhattan where “two 
thousand people from all over 
the world, every race and color, 
living in the same community 
and surmounting problems of 
language and background... 

The banks have them over a 

barrel because the color of a lot 

of the tenants makes it difficult 
for them to get housing in New 

York” at a rent they can afford. 

This is beautifully written. 


TIME has been doing a good 
job on African troubles, 


“The Sacrament of the 
Body of the Lord puts the 
demons to flight, defends us 
against the incentives to vice 
and to concupiscence, cleanses 
the souls from sin, assuages 
the anger of God, enlightens 
the understanding to know 
God, inflames the will and the 
affections with the love of 


God, fills the memory with 
spiritual sweetness, confirms 
the entire man in good, frees 
us from eternal death, multi- 
plies the merits of a good life, 
leads us to our everlasting 


reanimates the 
life.”—SE. 


home, and 
body to eternal 
Thomas ‘quinas. 


esting to read descriptions of the 
family life of saints and see 
what type of home inspired such 
spirituality. The pages on 
“Training for Social Responsibil- 
ity” are must reading for every 
parent. Anyone interested in ex- 
ploring the spiritual heights of 
what St. Paul called the great- 
est sacrament will delight in this 
book. 

—Virginia Rohr Rowland 





CHRISTMAS 
BOOKS 
























The BOOK 


of the 


SAVIOUR 
Assembled by F. J. Sheed 


If you like to read the best that today's 
finest Catholic authors have written 
about Our Lord, then you can hardly 
help liking this book. Forty authors are 
represented and their work is arranged 
to make a complete life of Our Lord— 
and, we think, a better one than any one 
man could have written. This is a com- 
panion volume to THE MARY BOOK 
and, like it, is illustrated with repro- 
ductions of great pictures. $4.00 


SHEPHERDS 
of FATIMA 


By Father John De Marchi 
Retold for children by 
Elisabeth Cobb 


Give this to your favorite children for 
Christmas—it really goes over and we 
suspect Peggy Wink's children are not 
the only ones who have asked to have 
it read through a second time as soon 
as she came to the end of it. $2.00 


We suppose everyone who takes the 
Catholic Interracialist has read Helen 
Caldwell Day's COLOR EBONY ($2.25) 
and Laura Adams’ DARK SYMPHONY 
($2.50)—we just mention them to re- 
mind you what.a good Christmas pres- 
ent either makes. 
Order books from 
your bookstore 

The current number of Sheed & Ward's 
OWN TRUMPET contains new and re- 
tinted book reviews, extracts from new 
ooks and a complete Christmas cata- 


log will be mailed to you free and post- 
paid if you send a card to Ina MacGill. 


SHEED & WARD 


New York 3 





Page 7 





Not Yet One Saint 


SAINTS FOR NOW, edited by Clare Boothe Luce, New York, 
Sheed & Ward, 312 pages, 7 illus. $3.50. 


BECAUSE I WORK FOR THE 

PUBLISHERS of Saints for 
Now I am in a very good posi- 
tion to see what reactions there 
have been to this book. And I 
am sad. Not that there haven’t 
been dozens of reviews, most of 
them favorable. There have. Not 
that the book isn’t selling better 


and faster than any book Sheed 
& Ward has had in the nearly 
six years I have been there. 
It is. 

But that nearly all the review- 
ers have missed the point. It’s 
true that Clare Boothe Luce is 
known for many things other 
than editing lives of saints. It’s 
true that most of those writing 
the lives are famous for achieve- 
ments quite different from their 
contributions to this book— 
Whittaker Chambers, Paul Gal- 
lico, Kathleen Norris, Rebecca 
West, Vincent Sheean, Salvador 
Dali, are but a few of the Big 
Names it boasts. But Mrs. 
Luce’s glamor, the all-star ar- 
ray of authors, the startlingly 
modern illustrations—all these 
are window-dressing. They mere- 
ly point to what is beyond—the 
stories and pictures of nineteen 
holy people who, without the 
aid of publicity or advertising 
or modern means of Getting the 
Message Across, lived their lives 
for God. 


IS NECESSARY that the 
lives of the saints be re- 
written for every age and it’s 
because they so often haven't 
been that so many of us feel a 
great weariness at the thought 
of reading them. But here we 
have what is practically an ideal 
situation: writers recognized as 
gifted by the world at large, un- 
der the editorship of a woman 
famous in at least three fields 
other than this preseggone, ded- 
icating their pens to the glory 
of God—and what happens? 
Practically no reviewer gets be- 
yond the dazzle-dazzle of fame 
and name to the purpose for 


' which the book was written. 


Almost everyone is saying, 
“How good Whittaker Cham- 
bers’ essay on St. Benedict is,” 
or “Paul Gallico’s amazing ver- 
satility is shown once more in 
his treatment of St. Francis,” 
or “George Lamb can write thir- 
teen pages about a saint who did 


nothing but sit on a pillar!” 
Practically no one is saying, 
“These people lived as we should 
be trying to live,” or “How can 
we apply these stories, told with 
new freshness and beauty, to 
our own circumstances?” 


HERE ARE HEARTENING 

EXCEPTIONS, of course. 
Gretta Palmer saw the book for 
what it is; a veritable handbook 
of sanctity. So did the reviewer 
for “The Baltimore Sun.” An- 
other reviewer saw, at least, the 
difficulties involved when he 
sighed, “This is a book to pro- 
mote meditation and aspiration 
—emulation would be too hard.” 
The “Commonweal” reviewer, 
too, saw the purpose of the book 
when he said in his review that 
a saint “is not primarily to be 
admired, but to be followed, to 
have made a difference.” 


“TO. HAVE MADE A DIF- 

FERENCE” —that is the 
important thing. One wonders 
to how many readers SAINTS 
FOR NOW will make a differ- 
ence. It is mightily discourag- 
ing to think of book after book 
slipping across the palates of 
American readers and review- 
ers, provoking nothing more 
than an evening or two’s amuse- 
ment. Let the novels do that, 
but not the lives of flesh-and- 
blood men and women who have 
dared everything for God. Let 
the reading of this book make a 
difference! Let its readers re- 
flect that modern America has 
not yet produced one saint, let 
them resolve to do something 
about it. 

I started with a reference to 
Sheed & Ward, and I may as 
well close with one. It is the 
habit of our manager, who is 
from the Low Countries and 
who has a quaint way with the 
English language, to prod us on 
at sales conferences, when we 
think we have exhausted every 
possibility for the promotion and 
advertising of a book, with the 
plaintive query, “What can we 
do still more?” 

It is a question the saints 
were always asking themselves, 
“What can we do still more?” 
Rightly asked, it can make us 
saints. Rightly used, Saints for 
Now can give us many of the 


answers. 
—Patricia MacGill 





9O99OSO9H7IH9LOH9HSHOSHH9HIHDSIV9OHHHHHOHSHSSH9S 


For the Best In 


BOOKS - MAGAZINES - ART 
St. Benet Library and Bookshop 


506 South Wabash Avenue 


Chicago 5, Illinois 


COCSCEC SESECCERCEC CESECOCEOECOOSSEESEEROSSEE TE BE 


Few Negroes Left 


In Georgetown 
(Continued from Page 5) 


APARTMENTS FOR COUPLES 
ONLY ON THE SITE. 

I asked my friend, a govern- 
ment worker who finds George- 
town convenient to his job, if 
there were many Negroes left 
in the section. He replied in 
joking irony, “No, WE have 
them just about all out... we 
call that ‘Operation Fini’.” 

He had just moved into the 
apartment and he said the Ne- 
gro delivery man who brought 
some furniture stood in the mid- 
dle of the floor and looked 
around in amazement. “TI lived 
here last year, but it sure didn’t 
look like this then” as he told 
my friend. 

IT COULD HAPPEN HERE 

OUTHWEST THE SAME 

WAY. On the 19th of this 


month the Commissioners will 
o.k. a plan for the redevelop- 
ment of Southwest, the area 
next to Georgtown in age, even 
closer to government offices, 
most densely populated with 
slum spots and low income fam- 
ilies . . . and us. 

The possibility of turning 
Southwest into another George- 
town has occurred to many “pro- 
gressive city leaders.” We have 
our share of ivy, iron gates and 
loose shutters. Whether South- 
west will go “exclusive” (up- 
grading, they call it) or whether 
it will house people who need 
homes most, faniilies whose 
children number over 11, is the 
question. 

The people can make them- 
selves heard, as we found out in 
the Rosedale Playground hear- 
ings, if they speak up at the 
open hearings this month. 

—Betty Delaney 





A NA, MOR Oe BR a Oe ay male 


ne 


tg EL) Rag RI, PO OE Ra ye ae 


7 


Page 8 


Ike Has Hard Task to 


CATHOLIC INTERRACIALIST 


Saint Ate Same Fish Every Day 


Rout Out Segregation in D. C. 


(Continued from Page 1) 


eral Eisenhower can and must 
end segregation in our public 
schools and then see to it that 
a policy of full and honest inte- 
gration is adopted. 

Playground Leagues Must 

Integrate 

THE PUBLIC PLAYGROUNDS 

operated by the local Recre- 
ation Board are in a process of 
“gradual integration.” A study 
issued by the Catholic Interra- 
cial Council here indicates that 
at the current rate integration 
would be achieved in forty 
years. At Rosedale Playground 
located in a racially mixed 
neighborhood, the Board delayed 
integration in the face of com- 
munity pressure and needs for 
at least a year and a half. Be- 
fore the final integration last 
month, dangerous tensions, 
brawls and incipient rioting de- 
veloped at the site. The Board 
complains that when play- 
grounds are integrated most 
white children abandon them, 
yet the Board has given no ac- 
count of the steps it has taken 


or plans to take in order to™ 


remedy this clearly undesirable 
result, It sounds like the story 
of the hound dog howling for 
hours because it had sat and 
was still sitting on a thorn. Fur- 
thermore when a playground is 
integrated, its playground teams 
can no longer play teams from 
either “lily-white” or strictly 
colored city playgrounds. When 
teams are disrupted because 
they are ousted from their 
leagues, it is small wonder that 
the former team members drift 
from the playground. 


Government Services Must 
Integrate 

UR LOCAL FIRE DEPART- 

MENT REMAINS SEGRE- 
GATED despite last year’s 
“tempestuous” (mostly wind) 
attempt to integrate them. Lo- 
cal civil rights leaders are more 
than a little suspicious of inte- 
gration in the police department, 
The promotion of a Negro po- 
liceman is, it seems, a most rare 
phenomenon. Discriminatory em- 
ployment practices are an ad- 
mitted fact in other areas of Dis- 
trict government. Job bias is by 
no means extinct in the Federal 
Government either, although it 
is much less prevalent there 


than in private employment in 
Washington. 

HE BULK OF OUR LOCAL 

HOTELS, RESTAURANTS 
AND MOVIE THEATERS, ex- 
cept those in colored neighbor- 
hoods, do not admit or serve 
Negroes. This discrimination 
has cost the city much conven- 
tion and tourist trade but appar- 
ently the merchants prefer their 
present policy or at least fear to 
abandon it. 

Local FEPC Possible for 
Ike Here 

OB DISCRIMINATION IS 

HARSH and blatant in public 
utilities and in private industry 
and, business. The local tele- 
phone and transit companies, 
for example, advertise plaintive- 
ly for telephone operators and 
bus drivers but reject Negro ap- 
plicants openly on the basis of 
color. General Eisenhower has 
stated that enforceable F.E.P.C. 
should be done on a local not a 
federal level. Here is one local- 
ity where he is boss and the job 
badly needs doing. Congres- 
sional enactment of a local 
F.E.P.C. with ample enforce- 
ment powers is a “must” for the 
elimination of “every vestige of 
segregation” from Washington. 

Jim Crow asserts himself 
from cemeteries to hospitals. 
Segregation in public housing 
has hamstrung our already se- 
riously inadequate program. A 
first step has been made toward 
ending this but so far it is mere- 
ly a token and a promise. 


Right Men Can Do Job 

HE PICTURE IS NOT EN- 

TIRELY DARK. Encourag- 
ing and substantial advances 
have been made toward inter- 
racial justice in the last decade. 
Jim Crow is no longer comfort- 
ably entrenched here. He is up 
on the surface, fighting for his 
life, @@#d his partisans know this. 
The struggle the General has 
promised to undertake will be 
bitter and is far from won. Much 
will depend upon the capabilities 
and attitudes of the local offi- 
cers, whose appointment the 
President controls or can influ- 
ence. Many leading local Repub- 
licans are singularly unfitted, 
judging from their past actions, 
for carrying out any program 
to wipe out segregation and dis- 
crimination. The General’s sin- 


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3655 West Pine Boulevard 


St. Louis 8, Mo. 


by Carl W. Merschel 


T. CORENTIN, THE FIRST 
BISHOP of Quimper in 
France, lived in the 5th century. 
But before he was a holy bishop, 
he spent a long time praying 
and being a hermit in a forest 
preserve nearby a mountain. At 
the bottom of the mountain 
there was a small fountain in 
which iived the miraculous fish 
artists always show with this 
Saint. 

It is this good fish which 
served the holy father with his 
supper every day. St. Corentin 
put his hand in the water, lifted 
out his animal friend, cut off as 
much as he wanted, and then 
put him back in the water, 
where brother fish swam around 
unhurt or unchanged. 

FTER THE MIRACLE OF 

CORENTIN’S FISH had been 
going on for many years, a 
French king named Grallo was 
lost while out hunting and ended 
up with his friends asking St. 
Corentin for something to eat. 
Corentin was worried about find- 
ing enough for all of them and 
he cut off an extra large piece 
of the fish by the pool. When 
he came back to the hunters 
with it, everybody laughed at 
only one piece of fish for so 
many hungry men. Yet the 


Saint started to fry his one slice 

of fish, and they saw how it was 

multiplied and transformed into 

enough to feed them all. 

S° CORENTIN’S SECRET was 
out. I mean the fact that he 

was a very holy man and God 


cerity and integrity on_ this 
promise will be largely judged 
by the nature of these appoint- 
ments. 

The elimination of segregation 
and discrimination in Washing- 
ton is one of the very few com- 
mitments on improving interra- 
cial relations the General’ was 
willing to make to the elector- 
ate. We in Washington do not 
expect the impossible but we re- 
alize what a tremendous amount 
can be done by a zealous ad- 
ministration. We and millions 
of others will be watching, not 
only in this country but espe- 
cially colored people and all who 
believe in real democracy 
throughout the world. 


Workers Visit South 
(Continued from Page 5) 
and it was an excellent change 
from the usual spooks and gob- 

lin theme. 

Novena to Christ the King 

E HAVE HAD AN EXCEL- 

LENT time to observe the 
providence of God and the power 
of prayer in action this past 
month. Just before our bank 
balance reached $.32 we began 
our novena to Christ the King. 
We ended it with a pilgrimage 
to the Church of Christ the 
King in the Bronx. As a result 
of our novena (and some spe- 
cial appeals we sent out) we’ve 
been able to thwart our land- 
lord who was threatening evic- 
tion, to keep the lights on and 
to buy stamps to send out our 
begging letter. Many of our good 
friends responded to our special 
appeal and their response came 
in during the Octave of All 
Saints which seemed to us quite 
appropriate, seeing it will some 
day be their feast. 

Friendship House family had 
one death this month. Nanette 
Sperco’s mother died and we ask 
you all to remember her in your 
prayers. Also Evelyn Davis’ 
mother is seriously ill, We are 
all very happy that she was 


Himself had proved it by send- 
ing such a miraculous fish. Ev- 
erybody ‘rushed to the pool, 
where one of the hunters tried 
his knife on Corentin’s poor 
friend to tes. the miracle. Then 
for the first time the cut would 
not heal. But St. Corentin 
blessed the fish and told him to 


ST. CORENTIN 
(Carl Merschel) 


baptized this week, and again 
beg your prayers for her. 
Longing for Christ’s Coming 
ADVENT IS ALL BUT upon 
us and already in the shops 
and stores downtown we see the 
Christmas decorations beginning 
to come out: It puts us more 
in mind of the coming of a new 
church year, the renewed awak- 
ening and the longing for the 
coming of Christ into the world. 
We are so in need of Him, and 
of His Love today! We like to 
think of the Advent liturgy. 


December, 1952 


swim away, or other curious 
people might hurt him again. 
Natirally the King was im- 
pressed by what had happened, 
He gave Corentin the whole for- 
est as a monastery. What is 
more important, the people of 
Quimper elected him their bish- 
op, and so he is always shown 
ready for Mass with his miracu- 
lous fish either in a pail along- 
side or in a well by his feet. 
THE SYMBOLIC MEANING 
OF THE FISH is, of course, 
very old and early Christian. 
The Greek word for fish, ICH- 
THUS, as well as a drawing of 
a fish or the fishes with which 
Christ worked the miracle of 
feeding the multitude, is a sign 
of his mercy and kindness. Each 
letter of the word ICHTHUS 
starts a Greek word which teils 
us something about Our Lord 
that translated into English 
mean Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God, Saviour. 
FOr THE EARLY CHURCH 
Christ was as much the giver 
of ordinary groceries as the di- 
vine life in Holy Communion. 
They never separated the one 
from the other, and dinner with 
a man’s family was seen to be 
a part of the entire liturgy, the 
Mass and the Sacraments which 
were therefore a part of daily 
life. St. Corentin’s fish, like all 
the wonderful drawings of fish 
and other symbols in the Cata- 
combs, is meant to make us un- 
derstand more fully the reason 
for Holy Communion, the one- 
ness of all Christians in the 
Christ Who is the Saviour and 
Giver of all life. What we so 
often do not stop to think about 
is that everything and anything 
was made by God and made holy 
a second time for us by His Son, 
or that the symbols loved by the 
Saints have as much to do with 
life on earth as in heaven, 


There is so much to meditate 
on — “understanding the time, 
for it is now the hour for us to 
rise from sleep, because now our 
salvation is nearer than when 
we came to believe” and “Re- 
céive one another, even as Christ 
has received you to the honor 
of God.” There is so much to 
anticipate—‘Now may the God 
of hope fill you with all joy and - 
peace in believing, that you may 
abound in hope and in the power 
of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be 


to Gee. —Clare Hughes 


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Full text of "Catholic Interracialist 1952-12: Vol 12 Iss 4"

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