Newspaper Page Text
nni'A
FOUR.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
APRIL 28, 1956.
(Hit? Httltetitt
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, Incorporated
JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor
416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1955-1956
HOLST BEALL, Macon _ __ President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. L. E. MOCK, Albany Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
DAMON J. SWANN, Atlanta __i V. P„ Publicity
GEORGE GINGELL,' Columbus — V. P., Activities
JOHN M, BRENNAN, Savannah 1 . Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta ' Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, r^ugusta Auditor,;
Vol. XXXVI Saturday, April 28, 1956 No. 24
/ .
v=— ■
Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia,
nnd accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by para
graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations.
V - , - —
Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association
of the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National
Editorial Association.
Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop-
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta, and of the Right Reverend Abbot
Ordinary of Belmont.
Coadjutor Abbot For Belmont
The Monks of Belmont Abbey have named the Very Rev.
Walter Coggin, O. S. B., as coadjutor to the Right Rev.
Vincent Taylor, O. S. B.
Father Walter will assume the administration of the
monastery and the presidency of Belmont Abbey College.
Abbot Vincent will continue as Abbot of Belmont Abbey
and also as the Ordinary of Belmont-Abbey Nullius, which
comprises Gaston County.
Born at Richmond, Virginia on February 10, 1916, Father
Walter has been head of the Department of Philosophy at
Belmont Abbey College, having received his doctorate from
the Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
Social Action In Cordoba
THIS WOULD OF OUES
Bishop Gonzalez y Menendez
Reigada, O.P., of Cordoba is one
of the most cogent answers to
the oft-repeated accusation that
the Church in Spain is derelict
in matters of effective, social ac
tion lie h a s
just made a
visit to Paris,
where he met
the famous Ab-
, be Pierre and
i spoke over the
; French teleyi-
s i o n network.
His work, in
his diocese
one of the most
achievements in
Spanish history and deserves to
be more widely known than it is.
I have met Bishop “Albino,”
as he is popularly known be
cause of his Dominican white, on
several occasions—in Madrid, at
an Apologetics fconference in
Vichy some years ago, and at the
International Catholic Conversa-
tions in San Sebastian. He is one
of the most dynamic of the con
temporary Spanish prelates, and
a man of the most amazing zeal
for the social amelioration of the
mass of people in his Andalucia
diocese. In the course of eight
years he has managed to- bring
about the construction of 8,000
houses for working people.
stands out as
extraordinary
CHALLENGE TO CHURCH
The Bishop was consecrated
in 1946 for a See city containing
some 180,000 inhabitants of
whom 30,000 are workers be
cause of an increased industria
lization. Furthermore, Cordoba
has experienced influx of rural
workers from all over Andalucia
resulting from the mechaniza
tion of agriculture which has
pushed a‘ goodly: number out. of
the rural peonage in which they
lived into urban living. The city"
is , increasing at a rate of some
7,000 persons per year. This im
poses on the Church a very-
real challenge with respect to
their spiritual and social cafe. .
Cordoba has not been noted as
one of, the most fervently Cath
olic parts of Spain. On the con
trary, it is estimated that - not,
more than 40 per cent are prac
ticing Catholics. This .. v/as the
consequence of the anti-clerical
policy of the last century and
the wholesale destruction of
churches, monasteries and con
vents that did not end until 1939.
Since 1946, Bishop; Gonzales
has created 13 new parishes in
the city and 83 in the whole dio
cese revealed that it was useless
to attempt to raise the spiritual
standards without attacking the
material. As of 1947 a plan was
worked out for a systematic
program of construction of low-
rental houses to care for those
living in definitely slum condi
tions. The Bishop floated a loan
and to help raise the necessary
money' organized all sorts of en
terprises including an operetta
company, bull fights and other
forms 'of amusement.
IDEA CAUGHT ON
In April 1947 the first houses'
were actually under way. Little
by little the idea caught on and
cooperation was found among
those economically able to do
something. In eight years 5,000
houses were constructed and
have been occupied by as many
families at a rental of from a
dollar to eight or nine dollars
per month. Several cinemas, a
stadium and a primary school,
as well as 50 centers for manual
arts and technical training have
been included .in this program 1 .
The Bishop set, up five district
associations to carry on this vast,
work—-one for the actual build
ing, another for schools and cul
tural activity, a third for wel
fare action among the old and
infirm, a fourth for transporta
tion, and a fifth for the purely
social, such as cooperatives and
the like. Several production co
operatives are flourishing, in
eluding a bakery and a printing
establishment.
NO RELIGIOUS OR
POLITICAL TEST
In carrying out this ambitious
program the Bishop has been
proud to boast that at no time
have religious or political con
siderations entered into the mat-,
ter at all. No family whs inter
rogated as to its political past,
and no consideration was given
as to the degree of Catholic
practice of those benefiting from
the work.
The Bishop considers this
project in its infancy, with end
less possibilities for the future,
and the one sure way of com
ing to grips firmly with the ap
palling social problem of Anda
lucia—the most needy section of
Spain and the one suffering most
from drought, technical back
wardness and landlessness.
The trend toward urbanization
and a city economy is rapid in
contemporary Spain. In this one
case it has been the Ordinary of
the diocese who has shown the
way and opened up possibilities
which may be of the greatest
importance for the future of the
Church in that country.
We wish to extend our congratulations and sincere good
wishes to the Monks at the Abbey upon the election of their
Coadjutor Abbot.
A Catholic Duty
Every Catholic, throughout his life, relies upon the
Church to be always available, ready and able to lead him
toward good and away from evil. He has this absolute re
liance when acting and thinking as an individual, or with
•others in the community, national or world-wide move
ments and events. \
Every Catholic expects the Church to respond when he
or his family calls for any of the sacraments from Baptism
through Extreme Unction. He expects the Church to guide
the education of his children, to comfort the sick and aged
of his family, to aid the poor and crippled in his community.
He expects the guidance of the Church in discerning the
good or evil in every significant movement or event in which
a Catholic must act or form an opinion. *
The Church does so act and has so acted since Her
foundation by Christ. She has spiritually nourished and
guided her children for twenty centuries. She has educated
Caltholics to recognize the good in significant events and to
oppose the evil philosophies and practices from first century
paganism to twentieth century materialism. This is as true
in"Georgia as in the Church Universal. But this work of the
Church must be extended to reach all Catholics, and, in fact,
allj mankind.
! Just as individual Catholics expect the Church to. act for
their eternal welfare, so much they act to make the work
of the Church possible. The people of the Savannah-Atlanta
diocese, in common with other American Catholics, have
done this to a generous degree in the past. Parishes and insti
tutions throughout Georgia have shouldered the responsibili
ty bf maintaining the Church and of erecting schools, church-
os,, convents, orphanages and hospitals. The Faith flourishes
with vigor among the Catholics, of Georgia.
' This state, its parishes and institutions had humble, but
Rout-hearted beginnings. A strong faith caused our church
to rise, and from a small group of pioneers, a tradition has
been patterned. Today Georgia is offered a challenge which
should be the envy of all Catholics. Here and now, in our
generous pledges to the Bishops Parochial and Diocesan De
velopment program, we have a wonderful opportunity to re
affirm our tradition, and to create, with the help of God, an
expression of our unselfish love for, and adherence to, the
Faith.
• We will be performing an act which will be commensu
rate with what is expected of. the Church. This act will merit
thd unending gratitude of our children and everyone who
views our effort. The time to act is now.
THE BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
ELECTION AS USUAL
No one need lament the failure
of the United States Senate to
approve the proposal that was
before it recently for • changing
the method of electing a Presi
dent and Vice President. The
present. system may not be ideal,
but the rejected amendment
would. have been no improve
ment. On the contrary, it would
have accentuated some of the
faults of the existing system.
As we now elect a President,
the candidate who receives a
plurality of the 531 electoral
votes is declared the win
ner, the entire electoral vote
of each state going to the
candidate who polls the greater
number of the state’s popular
votes.
For this system the amend
ment would have substituted
optional methods of 'allocating
thq electoral vote of each state
in the proportion of the popular
vote received by each candidate.
Each state would have been per
mitted to choose which of the
two methods it wished to follow.
The simpler of the two would
have given each candidate the
proportion of the state’s electoral
vote that his share of the pop
ular vote bore to the total
popular vote.
FOR INSTANCE
Thus, in the state of New
York, for example, a candidate
who received 51 per cent of the
popular vote would have been
ci-edited with 51 per cent of the
state’s 45 electoral votes, while
his rival would have been
credited with 49 per cent. Un
der the existing “winner-take-
all”' system, the candidate who
received as little as one more
popular vote than the other con
tender would get all of the 45
electoral votes.
The second method would
have made the Congressional
district the unit fpr, allocating
the electoral vote.; Each candi
date would have received one
electoral vote, for each Congres
sional district in which he had
a plurality of the popular vote.
And the candidate who received
the largest share of the popular
vote statewide would havfe re
ceived an additional two votes.
As this would have worked
out, applied to the state of Cali
fornia in 1952, Adlai E. Steven
son — who ran second in the
popular vote and therefore was
credited with no electoral .votes
—-would have received six be
cause he ran ahead of Mr. Eisen
hower in six Congressional
districts. Instead of getting all
the state’s 32 electoral votes,
Mr. Eisenhower, having ' led
Stevenson in 24 Congressional
districts, would have received 24
electoral votes, plus' two addi
tional for having topped his op
ponent in the statewide popular
vote!
THE WHY OF CHANGE
Many arguments were advanc
ed during the Senate debate as
to why the election machinery
should have been changed. But
the one on which the Senate’s
action really turned was that the
existing system permits minori
ty groups in the populous states
to influence disproportionately
the outcome of Presidential elec
tions.
A Congressman from a South
ern state, for example, urged
that the present system “accen
tuates the building up and
solidification within these states
of religious, economic and racial
blocs . . . Which can and do hold
the balance of power.”
The Southerner complained
that the candidates of the major
parties now are -.compelled to
pay too much attention to the
views of Negroes ih the big
Northern cities, to the “radical
wing” of organized labor, to the
Jews, the Italians, the Irish and
the Poles. These groups in the
big cities, he pointed out, are
capable of tipping the popular
vote in favor of a given candi
date and thus assuring him of
the state’s entire electoral vote.
POPULOUS STATES
From this line of argument it
is evident that the aim,of those
who advocated a division of the
electoral vote in accordance with
the division of the popular vote,
was to reduce the influence of
the so-called minority groups
in the urban centers.
As a matter of fact, however,
the argument that the existing
system gives the populous states
undue influence in elections,
will not stand examination. Ac
tually, these states do not have
as strong a voice as they should
have, considering their popula
tions, and the proposed change
in the election system would
(Continued on Page Five)