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INTER-FAITH CONFERENCE An Appeal To The Conscience Of The American People CHICAGO, (NC) — The National Conference on Religion and Race has urged Americans to work, pray and act to eliminate all racial barriers in this country. Some 650 conference delegates adopted a state ment calling for open occupancy in housing, equal protection under the law, and equal opportunity in employment, education and at the polls. Text Of The Statement Follows: We have met as members of the great Jewish and Christian faiths held by the majority of the American people, to counsel together concerning the tragic fact of racial prejudice, discrimina tion and segregation in our society. Coming as we do out of various religious backgrounds, each of us has more to say than can be said here. But this statement is what we as religious people are moved to say together. RACISM is our most serious domestic evil. We must eradicate it w ith all diligence and speed. For this purpose we appeal to the consciences of the American people. This evil has deep roots; it will not be easily eradicated. While the Declaration of Independence did declare "that all men are created equal** and "are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights," slavery was permitted for almost a century. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, compulsory racial segregation and its degrading badge of racial inequality received judicial sanction until our own time. We rejoice in such recent evidence of greater wisdom and courage in our national life as the Supreme Court decisions against segregation and the heroic, nonviolent protests of thousands of Americans. However, we mourn the fact that pat terns of segregation remain entrenched every where—north and south, east and west. The spirit and the letter of our laws are mocked and violated. OUR primary concern is for the laws of God. We Americans of all religious faiths have been slow to recognize that racial discrimination and segregation are an insult to God, the Giver of human dignity and human rights. Even worse, we all have participated in perpetuating racial dis crimination and segregation in civil, political, industrial, social, and private life. And worse still, in our houses of worship, our religious schools, hospitals, welfare institutions and fraternal organizations we have often failed our own religious commitments. With few excep tions we have evaded the mandates and rejected the promises of the faiths we represent. We repent our failures and ask the forgiveness of God. We ask also the forgiveness of our bro thers, whose rights we have ignored and whose dignity we have offended. We call for a renewed religious conscience on this basically moral evil. OUR appeal to the American people is this; Seek a reign of justice in which voting rights and equal protection of the law will everywhere be enjoyed; public facilities and private ones, serving a public purpose will be accessible to all; equal education and cultural opportunities, hiring and promotion, medical and hospital care, open occupancy in housing will be available to all. SEEK a reign of love in which the wounds of past injustices will not be used as excuses for new ones; racial barriers will be eliminated; the stranger will be sought and welcomed; any man will be received as brother—his rights, your rights; his pain, your pain; his prison, your prison. SEEK a reign of courage in which people of God will make their faith their binding commitment; in which men willingly suffer for justice and love; in which churches and synagogues lead, not follow. SEEK a reign of prayer in which God is praised and worshiped as the Lord of the universe, be fore Whom all racial idols fall, Who makes us one family and to Whom we are all responsible. In making this appeal we affirm our common religious commitment to the essential dignity and equality of all men under God. We dedicate ourselves to work together to make this com mitment a vital factor in our total life. We call upon all the American people to work, to pray and to act courageously in the cause of human equality and dignity while there is still time, to eliminate racism permanently and de cisively, to seize the historic opportunity the Lord has given us for healing an ancient rupture in the human family, to do this for the glory of God. UNITY OCTAVE JANUARY 18-25 SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES Archdiocese of Atlanta LLETIBf VOL. 1, NO. 4 ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1963 $5.00 PER YEAR POPE PRESENT Vincent Pallotti Raised To Saint VATICAN CITY (NC) —Pope John XXIII declared the humble Roman priest Vincent Pallotti a saint in heaven and hailed him as the archetype of “very pious priests for whom no offi cial veneration has been decreed.** The canonization rites for the new St. Vincent began (Jan. 20) with the procession of all Rome’s diocesan and religious clergy into St. Peter’s basilica. The Pope was carried into St. Peter's on his portable throne, preceded by 28 cardinals and brilliantly robed members of his official court. EIGHT thousand foreign pil grims from a dozen nations Joined thousands of Romans in jamming the limited space available because the entire nave of St. Peter's is blocked off by the grandstands of the participants in the Second Vati can Council. Editor To Speak On ABC Network NEW YORK - Gerard E. Sherry, Managing Editor of The Georgia Bulletin, official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, will give the com mentary on the "Christian in Action" program over the ABC Radio Network on Sunday, Jan uary 27. The commentary was produced by the National Coun cil of Catholic Men in cooperation with ABC network. MATHEW H. Ahmann, execu tive director of the National Catholic Conference for Inter racial Justice, served as exe cutive secretary of the Na tional Conference on Religion and Race held last week in Chicago. Among the notables present were the saint's great grand ne phews Vincenzo—a namesake— and Marcello, who carried the official banners depicting the miracles attributed to his in tercession. Two persons who were cured through his inter cession—Angelo Balzarani of Roccasecca, Italy, and Mar garet Sandler of Nadburg, Ger many-ware also there, Dele gations from the Italian govern ment and the City of Rome also had places of honor. The Pope, vested in a white and gold cope and miter, took his place on a throne set up before the gleaming Altar of the Chair in the apse of the •basilica, where he received the homage of the cardinals. Then the ritual pleading for the can onization of the Roman priest who died in 1850 at the age of 55 was carried out by a vel vet-robed consistorial advo cate. MSGR. AMLETO Tondlnl, Papal Secretary of Briefs to Princes, replied in the Pope's name that the Pope would in deed add Blessed Vincent’s name to the Church’s roll of the saints. All knelt in prayer as the Sistlne Chapel choir sang the Venl Creator to Invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then Pope John proclaimed Vincent Pallotti a saint. The Pope left the basilica about an hour and 15 mbrutes after he had entered. LEADERS CONFER * ST. LUKE’S DAHLONEGA - NEW CATHOLIC GEORGIA CHURCH . . .Benefit* From Appeal ON PARISH LEVEL Racial Justice Programs Urged For Congregations CHICAGO (NC) Peace Corps Director R. Sargent Shri- ver suggested here that minis ters, rabbis and priests plan an Interracial Justice program for their congregations. He told the National Confe rence on Religion and Race such a program "would encourage Census Conference Scheduled Sunday Preparatory work in relation to the Archdiocesan census on Sunday, March 3, is going ahead full speed. A meeting of parish chairmen and team captains will take place Sunday, at the auditorium of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta. The purpose of the meeting is to impress upon key personnel the importance of the census and to build up en thusiasm for the project. Fur ther meetings are scheduled as follows: MONDAY, January 28 - 8:00 P.M. - meeting in Rome for the same purpose as above. Partic ipating parishes - Rome, Fort Oglethorpe, Dalton, Cedartown. TUESDAY, January 29 - 8:00 P. M. - Meeting in Athens for the same purpose as above. Participating parishes - At hens, Dahlonega, Gainesville, Toccoa, Washington. WEDNESDAY, January 30- 8:00 P.M. - Meeting in Griffin for the same purpose as above* Participating parishes - Grif fin, LaGrange, Milledgeville. each member of the congrega tion to pledge a tithe of his time to removing racial bar riers at work, at play and at worship." SHRIVER addressed some 800 persons attending the con ference banquet. The Peace Corps Director is vice chair man of the National Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago. Another key speaker at the conference also urged that re ligious leaders put their deli berations on Interracial justice into action. Rev. Martin Lu ther King, president of the Sou thern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Ga., as serted: "In the midst of a nation rife with racial animosi ty, the church too often has been content to mouth pious ir- relevancies and sanctimonious trivialities." Grey Nuns Open U.S. Novitiate FALL RIVER, Mass., (NC)— The Sisters of Charity of Que bec, popularly known as the Grey Nuns, will open a postu- lancy and novitiate here at the invitation of Bishop James L. Connolly of Fall River. REV. KING addressed the closing luncheon (Jan. 17) of the conference. Both he and Shriver suggested positive steps which church and syna gogue can take to eliminate racial prejudice. Shriver said that when the government looks for the religious community’s role against discrimination, it "encounters, too often, a bland philosophy of laissez-faire." "As a layman, for example," he stated, "I wonder why I can go to church 52 times a year and not hear one sermon on the practical problems of race relations—I wonder, fur thermore, why each minister, rabbi and priest does not map a specific program for his con gregation—a program which will produce concrete gains over the next 12 months." SHRIVER said such a pro gram could: "Include a pledge to double the number of Negro families in the congregation where Ne groes now attend. "Include the establishment of interracial councils where none exists. "Introduce Negroes to every Continued on Page 8 DAHLONEGA PROGRESS Missions In Appeal Set Sunday is dedicated to the Georgia Mission. A special col lection will be taken in all the churches of the Archdiocese for this purpose. In a score of places in Nor thern Georgia, there is waiting for us a Catholic opportunity that is tremendous. These places exist in the rapidly grow ing towns near Metropolitan At lanta - they also exist where four or five counties are served by one priest and a chapel. AS ONE concrete result of the Georgia Mission Sunday Collection, the archdiocese purchased a Protestant church at Dahlonega. Previously, Mass was offered in a 20 x 18 room in a rented house nearby. Now the whole picture is changing. The Catholics of the surround ing area are proudly identified with their own "parish church", Saint Luke’s. The Rev. Leonard Spanjers, pastor at Saint Luke's, has an nounced that a new additional lot has been purchased behind the church, which will be used for a rectory and classroom space for religious instruction. The lot lies directly behind the Presbyterian (now Catho lic) church. Father Spanjers told The Georgia Bulletin: "Our Glenmary Brothers’ Building crew will begin remo delling around Easter time when the Presbyterians will discon tinue use of the church which we have purchased. They are building a new plant and will move out when that is finished or (by contract) on June 1. In other words, our Catholic services won’t begin in the new ly purchased church before Easter at earliest or June 1 at, latest." DAHLONEGA is a prime ex ample of the progress of the Catholic Church in the State of Georgia. Over 100 years ago, a few Catholics here used to travel 70 miles to Atlanta Columbus Day WASHINGTON, (NC)--T*o senators have introduced a bill to make October 12, Columbus Day, a legal holiday. The mea sure (S. 108) was sponsored by Sens. John J. Williams and J. Caleb Boggs, both of Delaware, and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. for Mass in the home of Pa trick Lynch. Catholic roots in this attractive little commu nity are very deep. Two years ago, the Glenmary Fathers came to Dahlonega and the sur rounding four counties. They rented a home, and built a tiny chapel. In two years, the Ca tholic population rose from 25 to 70. Now a great opportu nity has opened up. Dahlonega is only one of many CIVIL LIBERTIES WASHINGTON (NC) The Catholic Council on Civil Li berties has filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief with the U. S. Supreme Court on behalf of a Negro pi lot who claims he was denied an airlines job because of ra cial discrimination. The Catholic organization’s brief supports the complaint of Marlon D. Green, who alleges discrimination on the part of Continental Air Lines, Denver, Colo., with which he had sought employment. THE COLORADO Anti-Dis crimination Commision has . . .Soon More Room mission areas within the Ar chdiocese which need assis tance. The faith grows only where it is established. It can persevere and prosper only where there is a church— the central place for communi ty worship before the taber nacle. The generosity of the Catholic people of the Arch- dioces will speed the day when there will be a parish in each of the 53 present counties which are served only by missions. found that Green was denied em ployment because of his race, although "better qualified for the position of copilot than any applicant interviewed." The Supreme Court is expect ed to hear oral arguments in the case next month. The amicus curiae brief, the first filed by the Catholic Coun cil, was written by Quentin Oscar Ogren of the Loyola Uni versity, Los Angeles, law school. The council, an affi liate of the National Catholic Social Action Conference, has headquarters in Lawndale, Calif. Group Files Brief On Discrimination