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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1963
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
serving GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News
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The Unity Octave
The whole world is stirring
with an intense desire for re
ligious unity. There is a fer
ment never felt before, anxious
and hopeful. Led by Pope John,
the Catholic faithful are inspir
ed to pray for his holy cause
with an interest and ardor of
unmatched proportions. Non-
Catholics too pray, work, and
trust that the grace of God will
bring about Christian reunion.
The Chair of Unity Octave,
January 18-25, is a fitting time
to beg God for the blessing of
unity. This “providential cus
tom" as Pope John called it,
began in 1908 under the lead
ership of Fr. Paul Jame s Fran
cis, S. A v a convert to the
Church. The Octave stresses
the primacy and the importance
of prayer. Studies, meetings,
printed materials on unity are
helpful, and to some extent,
necessary; but the prime ne
cessity, the inescapable duty,
is humble and earnest prayer.
Prayer is indispensable.
The Unity Octave is a call
to pray for all the world: for
Catholics that they may deepen
the bonds of unity which bind
them to Christ and to each
other; for non-Catholics that
they may realize the evil of
separation and the return to the
one and only fold where the Good
Shepherd longs to receive them.
As the late Episcopalian lead
er, Bishop Manning of New
York, said: “More than ever
today, when the whole world is
one, we must think of Christian
Unity in its true world-wide
meaning. . .Reunion will come,
not by compromise of faith and
conviction, not by throwing
aside creed and doctrine, but by
a fuller appreciation of the truth
revealed in Christ."
The Catholic offers his pray
er and sacrifices for unity in
the spirit of faith, realizing
that “the salvation of a large
number of souls depends on the
prayers and voluntary mortifi
cation born from this purpose by
the members of the Mystical
Body of Christ." (Pius XII).
Catholic prayer for unity is
not offered in the spirit of com
petition, as though the Church is
trying to gain in numbers in an
effort to impress other religi
ous bodies. Prayer for unity is
not offered in the spirit of pride
or complacency, but with grati
tude and zeal - in the spirit of
faith. As Fr. Charles Boyer,
S.J., noted authority on reun
ion, has written: “Prayer tou
ches the heart of God and at the
same time disposes men’s souls
for receiving His gifts. Prayer
for union prepares those who do
not belong to the Catholic
Church to recognize the legiti
macy of this Church and to see
that in her and in her alone is
realized the unity that Our Lord
has willed. Prayer likewise dis
poses Catholics to the under
standing, the universal charity,
and the exemplary life that are
the conditions of progress to
ward unity."
Catholics pray for those out
side the Church, not against
them. Prayer is not a disagree
able duty, a burden that somehow
has to be undertaken, but an act
of all-embracing love, offered
in the spirit of faith. Catholics
should pray for their own lead
ers as well as those outside the
Church. Archbishop Yaeger of
Paderborn, Germany makes
this interesting point: "Our
prayers are specifically need
ed by those learned theologians
who are working in the field of
controversy, who are reason
ably clarifying ideas and trying
to clear away the debris of
centuries of polemic." The
faithful should pray for their
own clergy, scholars, and bis
hops, as well as leaders of
non-Catholic groups.
Prayer for unity is offered
to God in the spirit of faith -
the faith that can move the
apparent mountains of diffi
culties regarding reunion.
Christian Unity is a gigantic
problem, but it is not to be
left to the outcome of history
or to the Last Judgement. As
Pope John has said of the com
ing council: "The outcome of
the approaching Ecumenical
Council will depend more on a
crusade of fervent prayer than
on human effort and diligent ap
plication. " The words also ap
ply to the apostolate of Chris
tian Unity.
Prayer is not an excuse for
idleness, it is not a comforting
shell into which men crawl
when they are faced with diffi
culties. Prayer is an activity
of the soul, asking for the great
est need in the world - the
grace of God. Prayer draws
down the dew of divine grace
upon parched, thirsting, and
needy souls. It is the balm to
heal aching wounds, the strength
to do battle against spiritual
enemies.
While prayer for religious
unity should be offered daily by
the sincere and apostolic Ca
tholic, it should be even more
fervent and intense during the
Chair of Unity Octave, January
18-25. As Fr. Gusatve Wei-
gel, S.J. has declared: "To all
who believe in the desire of
Christ that we all be one and
who according to Christ’s com
mand love their neighbor.
A SYMPTOM
VI
. _ :,-0.
illf:
'AND THAT WAS MY FATHER?*
LITURGY AND LIFE
‘Religion For Sale,’ Sign
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
“NoDody can tell you what faith is,*’ the an
nouncer intones unctuously; “you can't see it; you
can only feel it; but faith is a powerful instrument
to help you face your problems and to get more out
of living.'* Then comes to the soft-sell pitch to
"attend the church of your choice" and absorb
"strength to face life’s challenge." I can only
repeat what a critic wrote of Thronton Wilder:
I agree with much of what he says but I will op
pose to the death his right to say it in this way.
Such sloppily conceived pub
lic service advertising in the
cause of religion - together
with books which peddle *'po
sitive thinking", don’t-rock-
the-boat ethics, and garish, side
-show religious "art” - pro
duce one unmistakable and un
pardonable result. They chea
pen religion. And they appear
to be unbiquitous.
IN THE attempt to make religion palatable to
tastes conditioned by mass culture, they succeed
only in making it in bad taste. Other ages have
committed many crimes against religion. They
have persecuted it, overcomplicated it, removed
it from the context of daily life. It has remained
for our time to make it vulgar.
The vulgarisation of religion by the attachment
of devotional value to ugly, meaningless repre
sentation of sacred persons panders to a kind of
mass-produced superstition. The impression of
ten is that the spiritual is given its sufficient
due merely by the display of a plastic statue, a
luminous crucifix or a glass eyed mummy label
ed with the name of our Savior, Ms Mother or
a Saint.
The one consolation - and it is a welcome
one, indeed - is that a reaction against this sort
of thing seems to be growing steadily. The taste
for meaningful, Individualized religious art is con
tinuously more in evidence. That religious art
worthy of the name is at the same time becoming
more readily available proves, I am sure, some
thing pretty obvious about the law of supply and
demand.
CONSIDERABLY more serious is the cheapen
ing of religion Involved in the effort to popula-
LITURGICAL WEEK
rize church attendance through commercials and
to sell patriotism and mental health under the
.guise of promoting religion. Let me make it
clear, if it be necessary, that I am not im
pugning the motives of those who engineer such
efforts. Not their motives; only their wisdom.
I have no objection to mental health or patriotism
nor, heaven help us, to church attendance.
I do object, however, and strenuously, to sell
ing religion as a commodity treated to make it
unobjectionable and easy to swallow, complete
with emotional trading stamps as a come-on. To
conceive religion as some kind of healthy, well-
meaning fellowship with those who share our own
ideas and then to stud it with useful, easy, satis
fying virtues is to cheat God and man.
IT IS CERTAINLY a mockery of the cross of
Christ. To subordinate religion to our gratitude
for ou. national wealth or to fight against Com
munism is a fearfully illogical substitution of
means for ends. Finally and most dangerous of
all, the effort to market religion as the antidote
for neurotic anxiety not only leaves itself open
to anti-religious objections common since Freud,
it tends to give them more than a little basis
In fact.
It is always a good deal more demanding to
be right than it is to be wrong or only partially
right. Religion is a very complex idea, every
bit as complex as man. Its subject, and God,
its object. The basic bond between man and God
is creation. At the core of man's being there
exists a tie of absolute dependence upon his
Creator.
RELIGION is man's assent, his kiss, placed
upon the chain that binds him inexorably to God.
Religion is born of the inter-action of the primal
fact of creation and the awful burden of human
freedom. It takes its first step in the awe of
the absolutely unnecessary creature in the face
of his absolutely necessary God.
From here it reaches out to humble suppli
cation born of need, gratitude that springs from
the incredible spectacle of divine generosity and
contrition that arises from the incredible spec
tacle of human sin. The whole is consummated
in love, God-given and God-directed. This Is the
religion portrayed In the liturgy of the Mass,
the "indispensable source of the true Christian
spirit."
His Manifestation As Lord
BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA
(Priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory)
JANUARY 20, SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIP
HANY. Jesus continues His Epiphany (His mani
festation as Lora) at a wedding feast (Gospel).
His touch transforms water to wine, an earthy
feast to a sacrament of eternal happiness.
The Mass itself Is an example of that trans
forming touch. A human meal, human fellow
ship around a table, becomes at the Last Supper
a sacred sign of final glory. "The Lord sent
feu ch his Word and healed them" (Gradual) has
for the Christian a universal application
ONLY negation, sin, is excluded from the
blessing of His coming and His hard won do
minion. The application Is most obvious, most ap
parent, in the case of those earthly things which
He has made actual Instruments of His grace;
the water of Baptism, the bread and wine of the
Eucharist, etc. He transforms without destroy
ing. He creats a new reality without mutilating
the old.
So the First Reading teaches that the fellowship
of His Mystical Body is a unity of diverse beings,
with none of the richness (or oddities) of our
humanness lost in the process of incorporation.
The Word heals, makes whole, by love.
MONDAY, JANUARY 21, ST. AGNES, VIRGIN,
MARTYR. The first session of the Ecumenical
Council has made Catholics more conscious than
ever before of the scandal of Christian disunity.
So the annual week of prayer for the unity of
the Church has a special appeal and urgency
for us this year.
The virgin has always been a symbol of the
Church. This feast of a virgin martyr reminds us
M the suffering and imperfection which are rea
lities of the Church's existence in this world.
We must pray and work for unity. But also we
must understand that in time and on earth the
answer to our prayer may not be precisely what
we expect.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, SS. VINCENT AND
ANASTASIUS, MARTYRS. The total reliance of
the Church upon God is the great lesson of today's
Mass. As we pray tor toe unity at Christians,
it is a salutary tnought. How much of our divi
sion and separation has come about because we
have been more attentive to kings and governors,
parents, brothers, relatives and friends (Gospel),
than we have been to the Word of God?
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, ST. RAYMOND
OF PENNAFORT, CONFESSOR. Our opening
prayer (Collect) today links the holy man we
celebrate with confession and penance, Chris
tian themes basic to the work of ecumenism
(Christian reunion).
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
The ‘Wall
of Shame
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
- ’ . . ' . ! : y ' - ;■ t' \ v . - ; I , }
The City of Atlanta has been the leader in the
South in the work of peaceful integration over the
past several years. Under the courageous inspira
tion of responsible city officials, Atlanta news
papers, and the business and educational commu
nities, much has been accomplished to ensure
elementary rights for Colored citizens.
Atlanta has not only
led the South, it has
led the rest of Geor-
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
gia in working to
wards a sensible so
lution to racial
strife. Things are by
no means complete
in this regard. Many,
many inequities re
main; but things are
being done. Atlanta's
leading citizens are not only talking - they are
acting. Indeed, some of our fellow citizens in the
North, and other areas of the country, could take
a few lessons from this metropolis of the die
hard South.
IT IS therefore tragic that this good record
should be sullied by a recent dispute between
the Negro community and the City Fathers. In
mid-December, the Board of Alderman approved
the errection of barriers at Peyton and Harlan
Roads, in South West Atlanta. The action was taken
at the urging of a White citizens group which ac
cused Negro real estate operators of "block
busting.'’ Further encroachment of Negroes into
the White areas was halted by this action. How*
ever, it brought protests from both sides of the
barricades; city action was upheld in the courts,
although further litigation is planned.
Many citizens of both races, believe that "the
Wall’’ (as it is called) is a blot on the good name
of Atlanta. They assert it is giving a false image
abroad, not only for the city but for the nation.
It has not achieved its main purpose, and has led
the Negro leaders to a policy of non-cooperation
with city officials. The Negroes say "The Wall”
must go before they will enter into negotiations to
end the dispute. Shades of the West and the Com
munists over Berlin ami its infamous wall.
FROM A practical point of view, we are faced
here with a perennial problem — that of giving the
growing Negro population the right to live in decent
parts of our cities and towns. It is hard to arrive
at a peaceful solution because of the fears of
many Whites. And these fears are not confined
only to Southerners. The White communities in
Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and many other places, have shown
opposition to Negro expansion in their inner cities
and suburbs.
In addition, of course, unscrupulous real estate
operators have exploited these fears and reaped
a handsome profit. Furthermore, these exploiters
come from both races. Negro as well as White
house-owners are made to suffer. "Block-bust
ing” is an evil which should be outlawed by re
sponsible real estate men — and they form the
majority. If they cannot police themselves, how
ever, then legislation should be Introduced carry
ing stiff penalties.
WE HAVE spoken of White fears — perhaps we
should be strictly honest with ourselves and call
it by its right name — prejudice. This vice is
hidden in all our hearts. It comes to the surface
only when we have to face the problem. We will
never get rid of this predudice until we stop view
ing the Negro solely as someone of a different
color; whose environment and standards are below
ours. If it is true in many cases, it is we, the
White people, who have encouraged its continuity.
For so long we have deprived them of the oppor
tunities to better themselves, spiritually, morally
and materially. We have been shortsighted, but
still are guilty.
Prejudice is hard to throw off. It requires ( the
fullness of charity and humility to eradicate it.
Hardly any of us are that charitable or that humble
that we can look at the Negro and call him "bro
ther.” Even among Catholics, the basic doctrine
of the unity of the human family is hard to swallow.
Though the Negro Catholic receives the same
Sacraments as we do; though he is equal to us
before the Tabernacle; though he has the same
divine dignity and eternal destiny that we have, too
few of us are willing to goandwalk the same path
with him. The ideal of the Catholic community,
which Saint Paul, called the Church, is lost at the
exit of our churches and chapels. Small wonder
that we bring such prejudice into our school sports
and community affairs.
MANY WHITE people have never visited a Negro
area in their city. They have no idea of the squalor
and degradation that is the lot of many Colored
families. Admittedly some of the conditions are of
the Negroes own making. But much of it is simply
because they have been deliberately kept down,
culturally and materially.
Through the pressures of consclence-strlken,
and responsible White people, many Negro citizens
have been given the opportunity to better them
selves. Many have entered the professions and
business, and have done well. They want better
housing. They want to get out of dilapidated inner
cities into the greener suburban areas, or into
better neighborhoods within city limits. Alas, most
White people refuse to accept even those Negroes
who have an equal financial and professional sta
bility. The net result is that we force the Negro
to go from one ghetto to another. In some cities,
we find Jews are tr<**ted in a similar manner.
This is most un-American and, more import
antly, un-CathoIlc.
IF ALL this sounds a harsh indictment. It Is
nevertheless true. The Negro was supposed to
have been emancipated over 100 years ago. Some
of us fall to heed the lessons of history. We also
refuse to heed the voice of the Church. If Catho
lics can only join together on this crucial issue,
we would be well on our way to solving a major
obstacle to good racial relations.