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7er .. . .
he OFFICIAL
No. 3134
le?eC014
ORGAN OF
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Perth, Thursday, March 26, 196-1Ar •
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Hungarian Catholics "He Is Not Here, But Is Risen" Are Still Persecuted Fear, Anxiety, Humiliation Innsbruck, Austria: Despite outward appearances of Church freedom, Hungarian Catholics are still meeting a great deal of government harassment and frustration. Priests and bishops are prevented from carrying out their duties. C lergymen are forced to join communist front organisations. Children are subjected to anti-Church propaganda in schools. These charges have been made in Innsbruck in a joint declaration by seven prominent Hungarian priests. The priests, headed by Monsignor Jozsef Zagon, a member of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation in Rome, assert that the Church-State difficulties in Hungary cannot be solved merely by settling the threat of imprisonment of Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, but require a major shift in government policy. often impressed by what appears to be complete freedom often impressed by what appears tobe complete freedom of Church activity, but it enumerates the following conditions that impede public life: • The Hungarian government prevents the Holy See from installing new Father Gellert bishops. Belon and Jozsef Winkler, elevated to two Hungarian Sees in 1959, have not been consecrated.
which he was named apostolic administrator by the Holy See. • permission iss needed to appoint persons to high Church offices, like directors of seminaries.
• Bishops Bartalzn Badalik of Veszprem and Jozself Petery of Vac have not been permitted to direct their dioceses even though granted government amnesty from political "crimes." The same is true of Bishop Janos Bard, who is not allowed to return to the Kalocsa Archdiocese, of
• Priests and Bishops need government approval to say Mass or preach.
Points For Easter Driving * IT only takes one mistake to make an accident. * DRIVE at moderate, controlled speeds always. * REMEMBER, careless overtaking can lead to careful undertakers. 7A• BE especially alert on open roads. * NEVER drive long distances without frequent breaks. * IF you drink, don't drive at all. * MAKE EASTER A TIME OF JOY — NOT WOE.
• Priests are forced to join the so-called Freedom Movement for Priests, and some of them are sent in delegations to places like Moscow and North Vietnam. • Teachers are required to give classes in atheism. Catholics find it difficult to gain erarance to the universities. - Classes in religion are blocked, even though guaranteed by law. "The Free World can hardly imagine how great a burden of suffering, fear, anxiety and humiliation is linked to these facts," the declaration states. "If the Hungarian State intends to improve its relation to the Church, it has to give the Church its fundamental rights and its freedom. This way, the Mindszenty case can also be solved."
'Uhey haPe taAen (Way tli ,eord out of the sepaclue and ii)e &oh) not idiere diem &fie laid
"THE PILL" ..Moral Aspects Outlined Speaking at the Riverton Cana Conference last Friday night, Monsignor E. Sullivan said that the Church had not stated that the anovulant pill could be administered to all women for any set period after childbirth. Such decisions were to be mode by competent doctors in accordance with principles given by the Church.
Right Reverend Mon signor Sullivan, D.D., Ph.D., outlined several moral aspects of the use of "the pill" after the matter had been raised at a previous session of the conference. He said that "the pill" was a normal preparation used for the suppression of ovulation; it had some lawful uses and some that were unlawful. He said that a Dr. Rock, who had been very active in the research which led to the development of the pill and subsequent experiments, had recently written a book, "The Time Has Come," in which, as a faithful Catholic, he had valiantly fought for the proposition that the pill could be used licitly, simply as a means for preventing pregnancy and that it was in a different category altogether from the well-known contraceptive condemned by the Church. "We have the answer to this," Dr. Sullivan went to say, "which was given in 1951, before `the pill' was produced for use, in which
Pope Pius XII said that direct sterilisation, that is sterilisation which aims, either as a means or an end in itself, to render child - bearing impossible, was a grave violation of the moral law. " Direct sterilisation, whether permanent or temporary, is unlawful by virtue of the natural law from which which the Church has now power to dispense. And then in September, 1958, in another talk to a group of doctors, the Pope repeated this, naming this pill as causing a temporary sterilisation, and said that to use it simply as a means of preventing pregnancy by suppression of ovulation was unlawful. In the very same talk he did say that indirect sterilisation could be permitted in keeping with the common interpretation of the law."
ment, not with a view to preventing conception, but solely on the doctor's advice as a remedy necessitated by a malady of the uterus or organism, she induces indirect sterlisation which remains permissable according to the general principle of actions with a double effect." Exprining t h e term "double effect," Dr. Sullivan said that where an action had a double effect, the bad effect could be tolerated for the sake of the good one if there were sufficient reason. The Pope's words were to be understood accordingly — the pill could be riven so long as it was intended to produce the remedy of some pathological condition, even though it had the effect of making the woman sterile, at least temporarily.
Double Effect
Applying the general principle to particular cases, Dr. Sullivan went on to say: "The use of this medicament for the correction of menstrual disorder such as haemorrhages is lawful according
Dr. Sullivan said that in answering this precise question the Pope said: "The reply depends on the person's intention. If the woman takes this medica-
to the unanimous opinion of theologians. "If a woman has an irregular menstrual cycle which is due to some pathological condition, then there is no doubt about the lawful use of this pill.
Some Doubt "If there is only a slight irregularity is it licit to ensure a greater irregularity? There is no question here of women with a wide irregularity which makes the calculation of a 'safe period' impossible for some women. Where that happens, due to a pathological cause, we have already considered it. The answer is simply, yes. But in the case of just a slight irregularity there is no unanimity among theologians as to whether this is a sufficient reason or not. But, since there is doubt about it, we must give the benefit of the doubt and say that this is allowable if it is medically practicable. "Is it licit to use the pill' as an extra safeguard during the infertile period? That is to say that the woman is quite regular and uses the 'safe' period, but nevertheless wishes to take this anovulant pill as a sort of double insurance. This question seems to have no meaning
because if the cycle is regular there is no ovulation to suppress. It is suggested, once again by some medical sources, that it could have the opposite effect. It could delay the ovulation and upset the regular rhythm. However, if a doctor thought it medically useful it could be used. "May a woman, in order to have a child, use this pill to temporarily suppress ovulation? In this case the pill becomes what it was spoken of in its earlier stages. Not an infertility pill, but fertility pill. It is used for a certain time in the hope that when its use ceases, the woman may successfully have a child. The answer to that is—it is permissable.
Abnormality? "Then we come to the really difficult one — the suppression of ovulation during lactation,_ that is during the breast-feeding period. This has given rise to a lot of misunderstanding. I'm sorry to say, and here again to start with. speaking as a priest, a moral theologian on the moral law, I must emphasise that it is not my business nor the business of any moralist to claim to SEE BACK PAGE
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