Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 17 text:

From a drawıng by E. Fitzgerald, '37.

Page 16 text:

but rather because he has firmly and pridefully maintained his youthful outlook, because it endeared him to his people and then developed by long training a wide knowledge of their conditions and misfortunes, because, finally, their love of him weighted him with the grave responsibility of caring for them. That Edward VIII will accept his responsibilities in the same spirit as his father has already been proven. He has personally dedicated himself to the pursuit of the welfare of his people. Edward VIII has inspiration from his father’s achievements and from the memor- able words of King George’s Jubilee Address: “I dedicate myself anew to your service for the years that may still be given to me. I look back on the past with thankfulness to God. My people and I have come through great trials and difficulties together. They are not over... Other anxieties may be in store, but I am persuaded that with God’s help they may all be overcome if we meet them with confi- dence, courage, and unity, so I look forward to the future with faith and hope.” In the spirit of these words, King Edward VIII cannot fail. May God grant that he be completely successful! What is Mexico to us) Whatever it is that induces men to attribute greatness only to the past in some affairs, and only to the present in others, and even to the future,—in the case of visionaries, —such a mentality is responsible for much of the shallowness in our attitude towards the Catholics in Mexico. It would seem that Roman persecutions and the persecutions of the Reformation are, as a matter of fact, incomparable; that modern persecutions, at least in the old sense of the word, are impossible. It is not our intention to account for this attitude; it is there, and it is enough that we should indicate it. But its consequences are noteworthy, not because they are praiseworthy, but because they are not. We have read that an explanation of the lukewarm sympathy of Canadian and American Catholics for the plight of Mexican Catholics may lie, perhaps, in the very fact of the great majority of Catholics in Mexico. It is difficult to understand, or so this apology would wish us to believe, how such a tremendous majority would tolerate oppression by a mere handful of men. Another reason for our coldness is proposed in this way: Catholics are resigned to persecution, they expect the Church to be persecuted, they endure it, they do not resist. Now we do not deny that these two explanations may account for a certain measure of our inactivity in Mexican affairs, but our inactivity is due in greatest part to our refusal to regard the Mexican situation as something vitally serious. Persecution was of the Romans and the Dark Ages; with modern enlightenment, modern culture, and the modern ideal of liberty, intolerance has practically disappeared, and where it has not, it exists in a far paler hue! This is the sad, sad truth. We think that nothing need be done in Mexico because we imagine there is nothing to be done,—at least by us. Catholic Action is for priests just as piety is for the Saints. Our saints are so great that they are incapable of emulation. So pagan persecutions were so terrible that modern persecutions are insignificant by contrast. Such is, it would seem, our line of thought to a great extent. Do you wish to know why Canadian Catholics are doing nothing to help their brothers in Mexico? Their supineness is not because the persecution is too violent to be resisted, but because they fancy it is [00 mild to be bothered with. It is for this very reason, the lack of appreciation of the real situation in Mexico, that priests have been sent into Mexico, despite the ban on clergy and religious, with the express mission of determining the exact condition of religion in that country. It is for this very reason that the Church is using every means of casting the glaring light of publicity upon this problem, —in the hope that enlightenment may lead to interest, and interest to action. In Mexico City, few signs of persecution have been permitted to reveal themselves to the average tourist. But Father С. A. McDonald, 5.)., was not an average tourist. He was Page two LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW

Page 18 text:

a tourist with a purpose, with a mission. He discovered that only twenty-five churches were licensed and that to each of these churches is permitted but one priest. Twenty-five priests to care for almost one million Catholics! Grave penalties endanger the liberty and life of any priest who attempts to perform his duties without a license. But restrictions of this particular kind might only serve to inspire and stimulate faith, were it not for a more devilish means taken by the Mexican Government to rob the Church of its greatest treasure,—the heart and mind, the soul of a child. Father McDonald writes: “И was next made compulsory to send all children to the newly-created State schools, and a course of studies was outlined for them that is so openly atheistic, communistic, and sexual, that no one can mistake the real intent to wipe out religion, even at the danger of corrupting and ruining the youth of the country.” Restriction of freedom to practise one’s religion, and naturalistic education are the two fundamental lines of the Mexican anti-Catholic campaign. We do not propose to enter into further detail. Our sole intention has been to point out that there really is no foundation for the attitude of Catholics outside of Mexico. There really is a persecution. To say that there is not, as so many of us have said, is to deny Father Pro the crown of a martyr, and the “Viva Cristo Rey!” which fell from his dying lips, its ring of sincerity. “Viva Cristo Rey!” is the death-cry of the persecuted of Mexico. May it become the battle-cry of the Catholics of America! The Graduates’ Retreat The Graduates’ Retreat, held during Holy Week, is a definite tradition at Loyola, and the one held this year was in every way worthy of its predecessors. The unanimous expres- sions of appreciation voiced by all the retreatants bore eloquent testimony to the masterly fashion in which the Spiritual Exercises were given by Rev. Father Daly, S.J., Dean of Studies of Regiopolis College, Kingston. The best criterion of a rerteat’s success is the permanence of its impressions and results. As the same enthusiastic interest in the lessons and reflections of those important three days of Holy Week was evident even on the very last day of the academic year, it may safely be taken for granted that our graduates not only received something unusually precious but that they treasure this souvenir of their last days at College and will continue to profit by its benefits. The late N. А. Timmins, Esq. It is only fitting that we should record our deep regret at the death of N. A. Timmins, Esq., which occurred in the course of the past year. The late Mr. Timmins had a very strong claim on our gratitude, for һе was one of Loyola’s foremost friends and benefactors. The sincere sympathy of all at Loyola is offered to the family in their bereavement, especially to Noah, Leo and Rodolphe, former Loyola students. ` ` Ordinations, — 1936 Elsewhere in this issue appear the pictures of six Loyola alumni who have just recently been, or very soon will be, ordained to the priesthood. They are the Revs. George Thoms, Edmund Way, Norman Griffin, Francis Dowling Burns, S.J., J. Hutchison Mitchell, S.J., and Bernard Lonergan, S.J. We regret very much that we were unable to secure the photo- graph of another Loyola boy also ordained on June 9th, the Rev. Louis (Hugh) Clarke, O.C.D., of the Carmelite Monastery, Washington, D.C. This makes the largest group, thus far, of new Loyola priests. May their ranks continue to increase! LOYOLA COLLEGE REVIEW Page three