Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021, August 22, 1963, Image 1

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Southern cross., August 22, 1963, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text« 1 \ 1 Hierarchy Repeats 1958 Query On Racial Justice By Russell Shaw (N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE) The Catholic Bishops of the United States on November 13, 1958, posed a question for them selves, their fellow American Catholics and the nation at large. "In concrete matters," they said, “we distinguish between prudence and inaction by ask ing the question: Are we sin cerely and earnestly acting to solve these problems?" The problems to which the Bishops referred were those of racial discrimination, and their pointed query was a con cluding passage of their land mark statement on "Discrimi nation and the Christian Con science." As the nation lives through the current summer of racial crisis, that question asked nearly five years ago by the Bishops still stands. Are Americans—and Catho lics in particular—"sincerely and earnestly" working for just solutions to the race problem? Have they, as the Bishops urged in 1958, taken steps to "seize the mantle of leadership from the agitator and the racist?" The U. S. Bishops now have issued a new joint statement on race. It sounds a note of urgence at the magnitude of the task that remains, and calls on Catholics for "personal in volvement" in the task. An honest assessment of the current race picture must re cognize the growing involve ment of the churches—Catholic, Protestant and Jewish—in the fight for racial justice. Amid chaos and occasional violence, the activity of the churches is one of the major bright spots. A major sign of the times de monstrating the churches’ awareness of their responsi bility was the Conference on Religion and Race held January 14 to 17 in Chicago. It has sparked much subsequent acti vity in the race field. The conference brought toge ther some 1,000 clerical and lay leaders representing approxi- Vol. 44, No. 7 10c Per Copy — $3 A Year SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1963 mmmm Text Of Race Pastoral Nearly five years ago, we the Catholic bishops of the United States, proclaimed with one voice our moral judgment on racial discrimination and segregation. This judgment of November, 1948, simply reaffirmed the Catholic position already made explicit in a much earlier statement in 1943. In the present crisis, wewish to repeat those moral princi ples and to offer some pastoral suggestions for a Catholic ap proach to racial harmony. We insist that "the heart of the race question is moral and religious. It concerns the rights of man and our atti tude toward our fellow man. . . Discrimination based on the accidental fact of race or color, and as such injurious to human rights, regardless of personal qualities or achieve ments, cannot be reconciled with the truth that God has created all men with equal rights and equal dignity." We reaffirm that segregation implies that people of one race are not fit to associate with another "by sole fact of race and regardless of individual qualities. . .We cannot recon cile such a judgment with the Christian view of man’s nature and rights." These principles apply to all forms of discrimination and segregation based on prejudice. In our immediate and urgent concern for the rights of Ne groes, we do not overlook the disabilities visited upon other racial and national groups. It is our strict duty in con science to respect the basic human rights of every person. Our beloved Pontiff of blessed memory, Pope John XXIII, sta ted this fact in his encyclical "Peace on Earth." He pro claimed that, " in human so ciety, to one man’s right there corresponds a duty in other persons: the duty, namely, of acknowledging and respecting the right in question." He not only condemned racial discrimination but asserted that "he who possesses certain rights has likewise the duty to claim these rights as marks of his dignity." Respect for personal rights is not only a matter of indi vidual moral duty; it is also a matter for civic action. Pope John stated: "The chief con cern of civil authorities must ... be to insure that these rights are acknowledged, re spected, co-ordinated with other rights, defended and promoted, so that in this way each one may more easily carry out his duties." We know that public authority is obliged to help correct the evils of unjust discrimination practiced against any group or class. We also recognize that every minority group in Ameri ca seeking its lawful rights has the obligation of respecting the lawful rights of others. On this point, Pope John wrote: "Since men are social by nature they are meant to live with others and to work for one another’s welfare. A well-or dered human society requires that- men recognize and observe their mutual righ;s and duties. It also demands that each con tribute generously to the estab lishment of a civic order in which rights and duties are ever more sincerely and effectively acknowledged and fulfilled." These truths being under stood, no Catholic with a good Christian conscience can fail to recognize the rights of all citizens to vote. Moreover, we must provide for all, equal opportunity for employment, full participa tion in our public and private educational facilities, proper housing, and adequate welfare assistance when needed. But more than justice is in volved. There is also the di vine command: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Our present Holy Father, Pope Paul VI, at the beginning of his pontificate, reminds us that "Revelation teaches us to love all men, whatever their condition, for they have all been redeemed by the same Sa vior; and it obliges us to offer to those who have least, the means of arriving in dignity at a more human life." It is clear that the racial question confronts the con science of every man, no mat ter what his degree of direct or indirect involvement. Indeed, the conscience of the nation is on trial. The most crucial test of love of God is love of neighbor. In the words of the beloved Apostle: "If anyone say ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, love God whom he does not see?" We can show our Christian charity by a quiet and cou rageous determination to make the quest for racial harmony a matter of personal involvement. We must go beyond slogans and generalizations about color, and realize that all of us are human beings, men, women, and children, all sharing the same human nature and dignity, with the same desires, hopes, and feelings. We should try to know and understand one another. To do this we must meet and talk openly and sincerely and calmly about our mutual problems and concerns. There’ are ways in which such meet ings can come about peacefully and naturally and fruitfully. For example those in the same type of work can readily discuss the problems caused by racial bar riers. Physicians of one race can talk with those of another. So can businessmen, teachers, lawyers, secretaries, farmers, clerks and other workers. Pa rish and diocesan societies, political gatherings, and civic and neighborhood associations can be common meeting grounds. Our important task is to break down the barriers that have caused such grievous mis understandings in the past. Where barriers have existed for many decades, deep mis understandings have all too of ten arisen. These should be faced, not in a spirit of de bate, but with a desire to open doors of understanding. It is only by open and free exchange of ideas that we can understand the rights and obli gations that prevail on both sides. Such knowledge is the prelude to action that will remove the artificial barriers of race. We must act to re move obstacles that impede the rights and opportunities of our Negro brethren. We should do our part to see that voting, jobs, housing, education and public facilities are freely available to every American. We can do this in our own area of work, in our neigh borhood, in our community. We may act through various lay organizations of the Church, as well as with civic groups of every type. In many parts of the nation there are interracial commit tees representing the major re ligious faiths as well as the important aspects of civic life. We bless and endorse such efforts to secure interracial harmony and to implement it in every day affairs. But civic action will be more fruitful, and its results more lasting, if all our citizens open ly and explicitly proclaim the religious basis of racial justice and love. Accordingly we repeat simply: Love one another, for this is the law of God. Revere in every man his human dig nity, for this is a gift of God. United, as men and women of (Continued on Page 2) HEADS MILAN SEE—Auxil iary Bishop Giovanni Colombo of Milan smiles as he receives the news, August 14, that Pope Paul VI has named him to be his successor as Archbishop of Milan. The 60-year-old pre late was born at Caronno in the Archdiocese of Milan.— (NC Photos) mately 70 Catholic, Protestant and Jewish groups with a mem bership of 100 million. Men such as Albert Cardinal Meyer, Archbishop of Chicago, and in tegration leader Dr. Martin Lu ther King spoke during the meeting. It closed with an "Appeal to the Conscience of the Ameri can People” that condemned racism as "our most serious domestic evil" and asked Americans "to work, to pray, and to act courageously in the cause of human equality and dignity while there is still time." The conference has been fol lowed up vigorously in many parts of the nation. Local con ferences on religion and race have been organized in some 50 cities. While many have begun with public gatherings modeled on the Chicago meeting, in other places (such as Washington, D. C., and Kansas City) they have moved directly into the action stage working on specific race justice projects. Non-Catholic bodies have made major efforts in this field. The National Council of Church es established a commission on religion and race with a $500,- 000 budget. Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians and others have developed new pro grams. The desegregation of Catholic schools in the South has pro gressed rapidly in recent years. More than 20 southern dioce ses have carried out school in tegration or announced plans for it. Fewer than half a dozen continue school segregation as a matter of policy, and in most of these the bishops have indi cated their intention of integrat ing when the public schools do. A major stride in southern school integration was taken less than a year ago, when the Catholic school system of the New Orleans archdiocese was desegregated. New Orleans, with its large Catholic population, had become a symbol, for there segrega tionists had for several years balked school desegregation efforts by Church authorities. Last September, however, the archdiocese’s Catholic schools were successfully integrated in the face of noisy but ineffective segregationist opposition. To many observers this develop ment, as much as any other, represented the handwriting on the wall for school segregation. In recent months Catholic school integration has been an nounced in such Deep South dioceses as Baton Rouge, La., Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S. C. But integration in one place does not solve the problem elsewhere. Bishop Charles P. Greco of Alexandria, La., in an August 4 pastoral, gave voice to the soul- searching that still confronts many southern churchmen. Bishop Greco said the Church has never approved segrega tion. But other considerations have often made it impossible for churchmen to take the lead in fighting it, he said. "The initiation of social re forms could not be allowed to take precedence over the all- important work of sanctifying souls," he declared. "Had the Church undertaken to remove segregation from the southern scene, her effective ness in carrying out her funda mental spiritual mission would have been seriously hampered, (Continued on Page 2) U. S. Bishops Speak Out Again On Discrimination WASHINGTON, (NC)—The nation’s Catholic Bishops have urged members of the Church and its agencies to get per sonally involved in the quest for harmony during the present racial crisis. Individual Catholics and Church groups should sponsor biracial discussions of mutual problems and concerns, the Bishops said. They urged simi lar action by civic associa tions. * ‘It is only by open and free exchange of ideas that we can understand the rights and ob ligations that prevail on both sides. “Such knowledge is a pre lude to action that will re move artificial barriers of race," they said. The Bishops—from the heads of small, almost-missionary dioceses to the five U. S. Prin ces of the Church—issued their appeal in a historic joint pas toral letter addressed to the nation’s 43 million Catholics. Released here through the National Catholic Welfare Con ference, the letter also will be read from the pulpits of Catho lic churches in many dioceses on Sunday, August 25. It bluntly says that the na tion must remove inequities stemming from race, that pub lic authorities must help cor rect the evils of discrimination, that no good Catholic can fail to recognize the rights of all citizens to vote and that the racial question confronts the conscience of every American. “The most crucial test of love of God is love of neigh bor," said the Bishops. The pastoral noted that the hierarchy has condemned racial discrimination twice in the past, 1943 and 1958. But it said that in the “present crisis," the Bishops wish to offer “some pastoral suggestions for a Catholic approach to racial har mony." Condemning all forms of dis crimination and segregation based on prejudice, the Bishops counseled Catholics: "It is our strict duty to respect the basic human rights of every person." “We know," they said, “that public authority is obliged to help correct the evils of unjust discrimination practiced against any group or class. We also recognize that every mi nority group in America seek ing its lawful rights has the obligation of respecting the law ful rights of others. “No Catholic with a good Christian conscience," they added, “can fail to recognize (Continued on Page 2) Priest Retreat Aug. 26-31 SAVANNAH—The Priests of the Savannah Diocese will begin their annual Retreat at the Gen eral Oglethorpe Hotel, here on Monday evening August 26th. All Diocesan Priests, ex cept those ordained this year, will make the Retreat. It is expected that some Religious who usually make their annual Retreat at another time, will also be in attendance. The Re treat will be under the direc tion of His Excellency, Bishop Thomas J. McDonough, and will be preached by the very Rev. Msgr. William J. Await. Dur ing this week, most of the par ishes of the Diocese will be staffed by the Religious Order Priests of the Diocese. NO VOCATION PROBLEM FOR THESE SEMINARIANS— The shortage of clergy and religious is expected to be one of the vital problems to be taken up by the bishops of the world when they meet in St. Peter’s Basilica for the second session of the Vatican Council beginning September 29. All is not hard work and study for the seminarian, as shown in these photos. After a serious group discussion (left photo) there is time for recreation and relaxation. Just as in other schools, the extracurricular interests are wide.Sem inarians are shown (right photo) warming up for a "pops concert". Others join in baseball, basketball and touch football.—(NC Photos) Clergy, Religious Shortage Acute Council Fathers Expected To Study Vocations Problem The following article gives some of the background for the vital problem of vocations, which is expected to be taken up by the bishops of the world when they gather in St. Peter’s for the second session of the Second Vatican Council, which begins on September 29. The writer is the executive secre tary of the Pontifical Office for Religious Vocations at the Vatican, an operation within the Sacred Congregation of Re ligious. A native of Iowa who was ordained a Passionist priest in 1946, he was in the forefront in the vocations move ment in the United States for a dozen years prior to assum ing his Rome post in December, 1961, Author of six books and numerous pamphlets on- re cruiting and vocational gui dance, he was director of the First International Congress Columbus New Moderator For Pacelli High School COLUMBUS — The Rev. George James, assistant pas tor at Blessed Sacrament Church, Savannah, has been named Moderator of Colum bus’s Pacelli High School. Fa ther James will undertake his new duties with the opening of the 1963-64 school year in Sep tember. Since the founding of Pacelli High School four years ago, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Herman Deimel, V.F., pastor of St. Anne’s Church there has been moderator. Father James will have his residents at Our Lady of Lourdes Rectory, where the Rev. William Dowling is pastor. A native of Valdosta, Father James is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. James. He at tended St. John the Evangelist parochial school, Valdosta High School and St. Bernard’s Minor Seminary, Cullman, Alabama. Upon completion of studies at St. Bernard’s Minor Seminary, Father James attended St. Mary Major Seminary, Paca Street, in Baltimore, Md„ where he re ceived a Batchelor of Arts De gree in 1954. He pursued his Theological studies at St. Mary’s Seminary, Roland Park, Md. He was ordained by the Most Rev. Thomas J. McDonough, Bi shop of Savannah, on May 24, 1958 in the Church of Saint John REV. GEORGE C. JAMES the Evangelist, Valdosta. Father James was first as signed as an assistant at the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Savannah where he remained until October 1958 when he was named assistant at St. Mary’s on-the-Hill Church, Augusta. In August, 1959hewas again named assistant at the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament where he remained until appointment as Moderator of Pacelli. While at Blessed Sacrament Father James also served on the faculty of St. John Vianney Serrtinary, Savannah. for Religious Vocations, held in Rome in 1961. By Father Godfrey Poage, C.P. (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) The lack of priests and Re ligious is so acute in many parts of the world that the Fa thers of the Second Vatican Council are almost sure to take up the problem of vocations. Why is it, the bishops want to know, that vocations flourish in some places and appear vir tually nonexistant in others? The statistical-analyzing ap paratus of today—the Pontifical Office for Religious Vocations installed a UNIVAC computer over a year ago—throws the situation in bold relief. Why are there such differen ces, for example, between the number of Catholics in certain countries and the number of priests serving them? In Bel gium, for instance, the ratio of Catholics per priest is 600 to I, while in Guatemala it is II, 000 to 1. In the United States, while the ratio is 820 to 1, that fi gure is rapidly changing, for the Catholic population there has increased 35.9 per cent in the last decade and during the same time the priests have increased only 22.2 per cent. The Montreal archdiocese, with some 1.3 million Catholics, has 2,180 priests. Madrid, with 2.6 million Catholics, has 2,349 priests. And Manila, with a Catholic population of 2.7 million, has only 725 priests. The over-all picture in the Church is one of vocation shor tage. In Europe the Catholic population has been increasing steadily, while the number of priests has been decreasing. In Latin America the popula- (Continued on Page 2) Monday, August 26th Memorial Mass For Archbishop O’Hara SAVANNAH—His Excellency, the Most Rev. Thomas J. Mc Donough and priests serving the Diocese of Savannah will participate in a Solemn Pontifi cal Month’s Mind (Requiem) Mass which will be offered for the late former Ordinary of the Diocese, Archbishop Gerald P. O’Hara on August 26th at 11:00 a.m. in Savannah’s Cathe dral of St. John the Baptist. Archbishop O’Hara was nam ed to the Diocese of Savannah in 1935 by Pope Pius XI. Two years later the diocese’s official designation was changed to Savannah-Atlanta. During more than two decades as spiritual head of Georgia’s Catholics, Archbishop O’Hara saw the Diocese’s Catholic population double and engineer ed an extensive church and school building program to keep pace with diocesan growth. In 1947 he entered the diplo matic service of the Holy See, while retaining his Georgia post. Archbishop O’Hara repre sented the Holy See in Com munist Rumania until his expul sion in 1951 on trumped-up "espionage" charges. It was at that time that Pope Pius XII conferred on him the personal title of Archbishop, in recog nition of his untiring efforts in behalf of Rumania’s hard pressed Catholics. After returning to Savannah, his health impaired by ill- treatment at the hands of Ru mania’s Reds, he accepted an appointment as Papal Nuncio to Ireland, where he remained un til being named Apostolic Dele- continued on Page 2)