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REPARATIONS DEMAND
‘Black Manifesto’ Puts
Foundation On The Spot
BY MARJORIE HYER
NEW YORK (NC) - The
Interreligious Foundation for
Community Organization
(IFCO) is an agency
established by Catholic,
Protestant, and Jewish
religious leaders to help the
poor--particularly the
minority poor--find new ways
of helping themselves.
For two years it went
about its task, quietly for the
most part, of finding the
money that would permit
locally controlled community
organizations to carry out a
wide variety of projects. The
quiet ended in 1969 when
IFCO helped organize a
conference in Detroit out of
which emerged the so-called
Black Manifesto, a demand
by Negro leader James
Forman for half a billion
dollars from white churches
and synagogues in
“reparation” for centuries of
injustice to the black
community.
In The furor which
resulted from the increasing
stridency of Forman’s
demands, one of the IFCO
member agencies, the
American Jewish Committee,
withdrew. None of the
Protestant or Catholic groups
in IFCO have withdrawn as a
result of the Black Manifesto,
but neither have many of
them rushed forward to put
more money into the
operation. (Member groups
pay a $1,000 membership fee
and, hopefully, make
available additional amounts
for grants to IFCO approved
projects.
I FC O-funded
projects--ranging from
establishing a cooperative
grocery store in Detroit
ghetto to adult education
classes for Detroit
sharecroppers--have
occasionally stirred
controversy in communities
where they functioned, but
none has compared with the
imbroglio surrounding the
Black Manifesto. Ironically,
although IFCO helped to
organize the Detroit
conference, it had no
responsibility for its findings.
In his upper Manhattan
office, the Rev. Lucius
Walker, Jr., IFCO executive
director, explained five
months after the Detroit
conference why blacks did
not denounce the Manifesto.
“Most black people feel
that blacks will one day have
to defend themselves,” he
said ' quietly. “They now
know it can happen. In World
War II the government put
the Japanese Americans in
camps. We know this
happened to the Japanese
Americans. We know it can
happen to us. This is why the
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In other games played last
week end Nativity
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James had to come from
>! behind to defeat-Tybee 14 to
League standings
four weekends of play:
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emotional tone of the
Manifesto speaks to the guts
of the black people.”
“This ‘gut feeling’ makes it
very difficult to communicate
with white people around this
issue,” he acknowledge. “It’s
not simple (for a black) to
denounce the Manifesto and
it’s not simple to embrace it.”
He conceded that
conveying these complex
feelings to whites is a difficult
problem “and I live with it.
The only thing we can do is
to stand and debate these
issues. I think white people
can come to understand the
fear and rage black people
feel.”
The 39-year-old American
Baptist clergyman is
representative of growing
numbers of black churchmen
moving into sensitive and
responsible positions of
leaders within predominantly
white Protestant Church
structures. He holds graduate
degrees in both theology and
social work and had
professional experience as a
parish minister and a social
worker before coming to
IFCO two years ago.
Mr. Walker feels that
blacks today are “going
through a healthy emphasis
on black pride” and that this
has been an important
element in the success of
community organization
projects in predominantly
black communities.
IFCO does not require
that the groups and projects
it funds be integrated, though
“all groups that we find are
working toward an open
society with opportunity for
everybody,” he explained.
“We have not given up on
integration or an open
society, though we’ve never
had a truly integrated society
or a serious effort to have
one,” he lidded. Mr. Walker
believes that before
integration can be achieved,
though, minority groups must
be accepted for what they are
and not made over into the
image of the majority.
“Integration can be
likened to ecumenism,” he
said. “Ecumenism occurs
after we have established the
validity of separatism. A lot
of religious groups fought
hard to establish the right to
be different. Once that’s
established, they can go
ahead and be ecumenical.”
Since 1967, IFCO has
allocated $1.8 million to
more than 60 projects. Of
this amount, $1.3 million has
come from church sources,
the rest from foundations or
private donors.
Msgr. John Egan, pastor of
Presentation parish in
Chicago and former director
of Urban Affairs in Chicago,
exerted strong influence in
the founding of IFCO. Msgr.
Egan coordinated Catholic
and Protestant efforts in
setting up the organization.
One of the initial Catholic
contributions to IFCO came
from the Washington
archdiocese. The money was
raised for a community
project in the nation’s capital.
Other Catholic
participation in IFCO has
been through the National
Catholic Conference for
Interracial Justice, the
National Priests Federation,
and the Catholic Committee
for Urban Ministries. Father
Charles Bums, S.V.D., of the
latter group, is IFCO’s second
vice president. Father Patrick
Flood of Milwaukee is an
IFCO board member.
According to an IFCO
spokesman, Catholic funding
has totaled about 825,000.
♦
IFCO is now operating on
a six-month budget instead of
an annual one, for the simple
reason that the organization
can’t see 12 months ahead
financially.
The National Council of
Churches recently voted to
raise $500,000 “in new
money” as its response to the
Black Manifesto. The major
portion of this is to do to
IFCO.
J. CAMPOS BRODERICK Faithful Captain of the Inmaculate Conception General Assembly,
Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus is shown here placing a wreath and saluting the monument of
Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish Partiot who gave his life for the American cause during the
Revolutionary War against Britian. Mayor J. Curtis Lewis proclaimed Oct. 11, 1969 Pulaski Day in
Savannah. A large delegation of Fourth Degree Knights, along with a U.S.Army Firing Squad from
Hunter Army Air Field participated in this wreath laying ceremony. An address was delivered by
Timothy A. Eason a Supreme Director of the Knights of Columbus.
ONE DEGRADES-ONE ENOBLES
‘Inhuman’ Poverty Isn’t
„ Like
REV. WILLIAM P. DOWLING
Moderator, Social Apostolate
The most serious and most
extensive problem of today,
and indeed of all time, is that
of inhuman poverty, human
poverty is an all-persuasive
contributing cause of nearly
every other human mental,
physical, or social evil,
devastates individuals,
families, and nations. It helps
bring on, and then further
aggravates, nearly every other
human misery. (Many books
have been written which back
up this statement.)
Many Christians are
reluctant to help their
neighbor out of poverty, not
necessarily because they are
selfish although some are; but
because of a genuine
confusion in their minds over
the real evil or goodness of
poverty. Some have even told
me that Christ was bom in a
stable and that what was good
enough for Christ should be
good enough for the poor.
(What they fail to remember
is that the stable was a last
resort after the hotels and
inns were found to be full.)
Perhaps a distinction will
help clarify the issue. There
are two kinds of poverty:
Christian poverty, and
inhumanly brutalizing
poverty. Christian poverty of
spirit is an attitude of mind
which inclines a person to be
willing to give of himself and
his possessions for the welfare
of his fellow man. It is ideally
perfect when it conforms to
the norm of Christian love of
neighbor as oneself.
Christ said that no man
has greater love than the man
who lays down his life for his
fellowman. This is what
Christian poverty is, the
giving up of one’s self and
possessions for the welfare of
others. It is not that poverty
is good to be embraced for its
own sake; but that, like
death, it is a thing to be
embraced when it is necessary
for the good of our neighbor.
Christian poverty is the
exact opposite of inhuman
poverty, although they often
both go by the same common
name, poverty. Christian
poverty is meant to be the
Chruch’s declaration of war
against inhuman poverty.
Wherever name, poverty.
Christian poverty is meant to
be the Church’s declaration
of war against inhuman
poverty. Wherever is an
empty symbol.
Christian poverty has two
values: a divine, and a human.
The human value lies in the
fact that it is meant to make
it easier for Christians to love
their neighbor and help those
who are suffering inhuman
poverty. The divine value lies
in the fact that God wants us
to help our neighbor in need.
Christian poverty is meant to
fully humanize us by enabling
us to love and help our poor
neighbors more perfectly and
thus fulfill the will of God.
There remains a very
great danger that Christians
may confuse the two kinds of
poverty. Some might think
that the church is in favor of
inhuman poverty and that it
is good for the poor to be
debased and dehumanized.
Others might think that we
cannot fight (inhuman)
poverty because the church
says that (Christian) poverty
is an ideal, and to fight
poverty would seem to be
going against the church.
Once we realize that these
two kinds of poverty are
bitterly opposed to each
other then we can throw our
full Christian enthusiasm into
the struggle to put an end to
inhuman poverty.
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PAGE 7 — The Southern Cross, October 23, 1969
ST. FRANCES CABRINI
6 Steak-Fest 9 At
Savannah Parish
BY BILL LIEBERMAN
If you were planning a
party in your home for, say,
twenty people, and fifty
showed up, would you have
enough food for all? What if
you were planning a steak
dinner? If your answer is still
“Yes,” then could you do as
well if you were expecting
fifteen hundred guests, and
two thousand showed up?
The situation is not that
improbable, and it is just one
of the the many possibilities
now being considered by the
committee now planning the
STEAK-FEST which will be
held on Saturday November
8th at Saint Frances Cabrini
Church at 601 San Anton
Drive.
This grandiose affair is
being spearheaded by Bill
Saxon, an able and amiable
fellow, who sometimes
appears awed at the
complexity of it all, but
nevertheless seems capable of
giving it that “ole college
try;” and indeed, it seems he
finds the right answers at the
right time. He is assisted by a
dozen able committee
chairmen, each with their
own tasks to perform, and in
tum, each of these directs
from a handful, to scores of
workers, just to get this
project off the launching pad.
Indeed, the very idea of a
STEAK-FEST is, in itself, a
new innovation, and most
unique in the Coastal Empire.
A truly Herculean undertaking
it is for this fledgling parish, a
brand new on in the Diocese
of Savannah. The pastor, Rev.
Stephen Connally, has wisely
drawn on some of his most
clever talent to put it all
together.
The steak dinner features a
rib-eye steak, along with
baked potato, salad, roll and
butter: all for a donation of
just $1.50. Your favorite
beverage will be available,
too. Booths will be set up on
the grounds, featuring games
for young and old, with some
mighty attractive prizes on
hand for the youngsters.
Pony rides will provide the
added touch of afternoon
frolic.
Initial projections
anticipated a crowd of 1500,
but the rapid rate of ticket
sales raises the possibility as
many as two thousand may
attend that afternoon.
It truly offers an
afternoon of refreshing
outdoor activity; so, if you
want to attend, check off
Saturday afternoon,
November 8th on your
calendar.
Then go and wrap your
stomach around a great steak!
YOUR SAVANNAH
REPRESENTATIVE
JULIAN HALLIGAN
INSURANCE
HALLIGAN BUILDING
PHONE 233-4792
testers
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MONSIGNOR
NOLAIM
THE HOLY FATHER’S MISSION AID TO THE ORIENTAL CHURCH
In this week’s Our Sunday Visitor (Oct. 26) I
write about India’s new Cardinal Parecattil and
our Syro-Malabar Catholics in Kerala, on India's
southern tip.
Kerala’s Catholics are as Indian as Mrs. Ghandi,
and their priests and Sisters now are working
hard in other parts of India.
What they lack is you.
Write me or phone me (212/YU 6-5840). I’ll put
you in touch personally with the individual in
India with whom you can share like a member of
the family.
Who is this person? He is the hardworking young
man who needs your help to become a priest, the
girl who hopes to be a Sister, the child who has
no parents.
He belongs to our family, God’s family, yours and
mine. Shouldn’t we Americans who have so much,
share with someone in the family what we do not
need, help him to help himself?
Early in December a lady in Michigan will fly to
Kerala for the ordination of the priest she helped
to train.
AT
CATHOLIC
NEAR
EAST
WE
SERVE
THE
COFFEE
FAMILY-
STYLE
IN
KITCHEN
CUPS
What does the training cost?
Surprisingly, in Kerala a seminarian needs only
$15 a month ($180 a year, $1,080 for the six-year
course) to become a healthy, holy, committed
priest forever. Write me or phone me. We’ll send
you his name, tell him you are his sponsor, and
ask him to write to you.
To become a Sister costs even less—$12.50 a
month, $150 a year, $300 all told for her two-year
novitiate training. She will write to you and pray
for you always.
Or why not ‘adopt’ an orphanage boy or girl? $10
a month ($2.50 a week) gives the child food,
clothing, medical and dental care, schooling, all
he needs to become a decent adult. We’ll send
you the child’s photo and tell you about the child
if you’ll drop us a line. Make it a family project
for your children.
Write me or phone me, and come see us when
you’re in Manhattan. Catholic Near East is not
impersonal. Here in the office we serve the coffee
in kitchen cups.
<D ax
Dear enclosed please find $.
Monsignor Nolan:
FOR
Please name_
return coupon
with your street.
offering
city
state.
ZIP CODE.
THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION
NEAR EAST
MISSIONS
TERENCE CARDINAL COOKE, President
MSGR. JOHN G. NOLAN, National Secretary
Write: Catholic Near East Welfare Assoc.
330 Madison Avenue*New York, N.Y. 10017
Telephone: 212/YUkon 6-5840