1
GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1963
PAGE 4
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
rvAnriA hyty y ythtyiv
Y*YjYFYiYMlrm 11 U 1 111
SERVING GEORGIAS 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News
PUBLISHER - Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry. CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kiernar.
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sue Spence
Member of the Catholic Press Association-
and Subscriber to N.C.W.C. News Service
2699 Peachtree N. E.
P.O. Box 11667
Northside Station
Atlanta 5, Ga.
Telephone 231-1281
Second Class Re-entry Permit Pending at Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A. $5.00
Canada $5.50
Foreign $6.50
Is It Official?
-s
BEING WHOLLY INFORMED
LITURGY AND LIFE
Throughout the United States
the month of February is recog
nized as Catholic Press Month,
a time when the objectives and
difficulties of the press are
restated for Catholic readers, so
that the task of the press may be
accomplished more perfectly.
Most Catholics realize, of
course, that the press, like every
thing else in the Church, has
only one basic function, and that
is to further the missionof Christ
iBut there remains much con
fusion as to how the press carries
out its mission. Part of the con
fusion arises from a misunder
standing of the term “official”
as it is applied to the press, par
ticularly to Catholic weekly
newspape r s.
Strictly speaking, a thing is of
ficial when it is done or said by
a member of the hierarchy, act
ing or speaking with the power of
the office that he holds. Thus,
when the Holy Father speaks as
pope, his words are official.
When the bishop of a diocese
speaks or acts, as bishopj"fusT
words or action are official.
In most of the dioceses of
our country the diocesan news
papers were established by the
local bishop, acting in his ca
pacity of bishop. Because their
establishment was an official act
most of these newspapers are
rightly identified as “official or
gans of the diocese.”
It does not follow from this
that every word printed by an
official newspaper is therefore
official. For any statement in a
diocesan newspaper to be of
ficial it must originate with the
bishop of the diocese speaking in
his capacity as ordinary.
Secular newspapers that pre
face a quotation from a staff-
written editorial of a Catholic
paper with such words as “In
yesterday's editorial, the
official organ of the diocese, said
...” do everyone a serious injus-
tice. While what they print is
true, the phrasing of the state
ment seems to imply that some
thing which is not and cannot
be official does really represent
official thought.
Perhaps no more than five per
cent of what is p rinted in a Catho
lic newspaper throughout a given
AN ALTAR BOY NAMED "SPECK"
“I’ll b* right back-will you keep an eye on my
eboeabte cake, please?"
year can properly be labeled as
official. And statements which
are official can readily be iden
tified.
On the other hand, the bulk
of what is printed by Catholic
newspapers can be properly
termed authoritative. And it
is precisely in the presentation
of authoritative news and authori
tative comments that Catholic
newspapers render to the faith
ful a unique and necessary, week-
by-week service.
If we might improvise on Web
ster, we might say that an au
thority is one who is widely re
cognized as knowing what he is
talking about. He may know what
he is talking about because of
some special training which he
has received. He may know
what he is talking about because
of the experience he has acquired
in doing a specialized work. He
may know what he is talking a-
bout because he has access to
exclusive channels of informa
tion.
The important thing is that he
does know what he is talking a-
bout, and his statements us
ually merit serious attention, of
course, the authority may not al
ways be right, because it is hu
man to err. But he is credi
ted with making every effort to
be right.
When an authority formulates
opinions in his own field those
opinions will claim the serious
study of eve ry right thinking man.
In the end they may be perhaps,
rejected, just as a competent
challenger in sports may be beat
en, but it will be only after a
strenuous contest.
The Catholic press is never
expected to deal in hearsay. It
prints news that is authorita
tive. And the majority of edi
tors and columnists working for
the Catholic press today are re
cognized authorities in a variety
of fields. This, of course, is
i as it should be. The mission
of Christ is to the world. It
is a mission of the young and
old, to the married and single,
to learned and unlearned, to the
governed and the governing, to
the laborer, to the professional
man, to all of those who breathe
the breath of life.
Power
BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA
(Priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory )
FEBRUARY 3, FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER
EPIPHANY. The last week of the Epiphany sea
son this year begins with a Mass which centers
on the power of Jesus’ words over the water-
symbol of destructiveness (Gospel). The manifes
tation of His power and glory continues and is
again associated with water, Baptism, the destruc
tion of the kingdom of darkness. It is the power of
the Word of God, a power which Christians meet
particularly and especially in the public worship,
the liturgy, of the Church.
Sometimes ’’Word of God” and “sacraments”
are discussed as if they could be separated, or
even as if they were opposed. The contrary is
true. It is the Word which makes the waters of
Baptism regenerative, it is the Word which feeds
us with the life-giving Body and Blood of the Lord.
In the liturgy the Word continues to transform
and elevate the stuff of this world.
America And
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
G. K. Chesterton wrote that if it ever happened
that only Catholics accepted that two plus two
equals four, that still wmild not make arithmetics
a “Catholic truth” or a part of Catholic doc
trine. It would remain a truth of mathematics,
based on logical definitions and completely re
asonable principles. There is a parallel to this
somewhat far-fetched example, that is of con
siderably more practical concern.
In America we do our sinning
in the same way that we do
most other things - in a big
way and in public, if possible.
It does not demand much more
than good eyesight to qualify as
a critic of our social and moral
ills. Since the advent of tele
vision even the illiterate citizen
must be aware of the myriad
moral dilemmas that face us in
our private and public lives. As a country that
seems to enjoy a “most favored nation” treaty
with heaven, the “puzzlements” of our moral
responsibilities to the rest of the world are ever
present to vex our conscience.
EVERY day we live with the multiple scandals
of racial injustice, abuses of power, rampant
dishonesty the vulgarisation of sex, the frag
mentation of family life, mounting divorce rates,
mediocrity in education - the litany goes on
like the devil’s checklist. Even more appalling
than the enormity of our moral disorders is
the aimlessness and sense of futility, the confus
ion of standards and apathy which bedevil the
present generation and the youth who are growing
up in our affluent society.
Comment and concern are commonplace. Po
liticians and teachers, preachers and clubwomen
loudly voice their misgivings about the general
situation or some particular problem. Too much
of the criticism is vague and unspecific and has
little effect. Often it is superficial and does
not reach the root of the problem or else it
is entirely negative. The intellectually respectable
critics occasionally achieve enough popular
success to make their names and the titles of
their latest books widely known. The substance
of their thought and the solutions they propose
LITURGICAL WEEK
of The Word
MONDAY, FEB. 4, ST. AN
DREW CORSINI, BISHOP, CON
FESSOR, So, while it is perfect
ly legitimate to speak of the
first part of the Mass, the part
of the service containing Bible
readings and sermon, as “The
Liturgy of the Word", it is al
so true that every act of Chris
tian public worship is a liturgy
of the Word. It is the Word of
God which makes a saint of the bishop-confessor
we commemorate today. It is the Word of God
which makes an instrument of sanctification out of
the creatures and the human things of the liturgy.
TUESDAY, FEB. 5, ST. AGATHA, VIRGIN,
MARTYR. Virginity and martyrdom, two voca
tions to which the Church has always paid at
tention and reverenced because they reveal im
portant aspects of her life, are hymned today as
gifts of God. “...lest any flesh should pride itself
before him” (First Reading).
Natural Law
seem only to penetrate the minds of the already
convinced.
TO RETURN to two plus two equals four
and Catholic faith - we need to do some hard
thinking and clear speaking about the ,fiatual
law as the foundation of morality. Fidelity) to the
doctrine of natural law is an essential teaching
of Catholicism. Natural law is not, however, to
be identified with Catholic dogma. Philosophy
based on the concept of natural morality was
clearly conceived long before the time of Christ.
There are contemporary proponents of this Phi
losophy who disagree with some of the Church’s
practical conclusions from natural law theory.
The first misconception which must be removed
is the identification of natural law with exclusively
Catholic ethics.
Another misunderstanding of natural law, en
couraged by the unskilled presentation of Catholic
marital morality, contends that such a moral
philosophy implies an obligation never to inter
fere with the physical processes and “laws’*
of nature. Sometimes, natural law is wrongly
identified with an effortless intuition of right and
wrong, an automatic reaction which dictates in
stantly the solution to any moral problem. All
of these notions of natural law are caricatures.
THE NOTION of the natural law is based on
the conviction that there exists a moral order
which every normal human being can discover.
The discovery of this order is not the work
of emotion o.i^intuition but of reason and it
demands consid°able effort. Our nature as men,
rather than beasts or angels, is made what it is
by our rationality. Because we are rational,
we can discover the general purposes and needs
of human life and happiness. By further-and con
stant - thought and effort we are able to relate
our moral decisions to these ends. This process
is the basis of ethical standards that are fully
human because they are reasonable. At the same
time it produces an absolute foundation for a pur
poseful and clearly defined personal and social
conscience.
A belief in natural law implies that before we
come to revealed religion or any other source
of moral principles, we each have the ability
to learn the general requirements of good conduct
and to discover, at least in a general way, what
our ethical obligations are. It is of this that we
need to convince the society in which we live.
of God
In the Gospel, Jesus matter-of-factly tells us
that some of His followers will illustrate the
other-worldly aim of the life of discipleship in
virgin vocations, implying that this, as well as
marriage, is grace. “Let him accept it who
can”. (Gospel)
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6, ST. TITUS, BISHOP,
CONFESSOR. “The kingdom of God is at hand
for you” (Gospel) is the familiar and awe-in
spiring announcement Jesus recommended to
His preachers.The Word both announces and ef
fects the kingdom. Where the Word is active,
the kingdom is present. And since the Word is ac
tive for us above all in the liturgy, it is in public
worship, as a worshiping community, that we
realize the kingdom as fully as we can until His
final coming.
THURSDAY, FEB. 7 ST. ROMUALD, ABBOT.
Communion, sharing, in His glory as well as in
Con’td on Page 5
BOTH SIDES
One Day And
Two Knights
A CHANGE OF PACE TALE
One day there were two knights in the quaint
old country of Quixotica. It was as during the
age of knight-errantry; during those gallant
times when every day had its noble chance, and
every noble chance had its noble knight, and
every noble knight had a foul temper.
Two such knights of Quixotica had brought
their bad tempers with them, as they vaunted
forth on ventures valiant. They were in liv
eried armor of might: heavy breastplates, top-
heavy helmets, unwieldy swords.
FROM opposite directions they rode towards
each other along a dusty road. It was an aw
fully hot afternoon. They met in the middle
of the road and drew rein to shoot a line and
boast of the dragons and giants they had slain.
Knights are alw ays
sensitive on hot af
ternoons - - this be
cause they are being
slowly sauteed in
their metal suits.
Our two knights were
very tender by the
time they met each
other - about medium
rare.
Just beside the road where they had drawn
rein, between them, stood a statue of Amadeus
of GauL Amadeus of Gaul had never lost a
quarrel and had a temper most volatile. He
was in the eyes of all the greatest knight who
ever lived.
TO CONFIRM one of his boasts, one of our
knights pointed to the statue and said, “By
yon statue of Amadeus of Gaul, and by the
golden shield he wears upon his arm, I swear
that what I say is true.”
The second knight was past the medium rare
stage. By now he was well done on the out-
side-sizzling. His temper was sizzling, too.
He spake thus, “Nay, thou art a craven and
sightless poltroon. Your shield is silver and
thine oath is false.'*
And so it went. The first knight said, “Tis
gold.”
The second knight said, “Tis silver.”
“Tis gold ... 'tis silver ... ’ tis silver ...
tis gold.’*
THEIR tempers, and the temperature, got the
better of them. They fell to smiting each other t
across the jolly old cranium, right merrily and
lustily. Long and hard they fought until, eftsoons
and prithee peace, they fell to the earth, bruis
ed and scant of breath.
Their shouting, and the clash of their swords,
brought the King of Quixotica to the scene. He
sought the reason for their jousting.
Said the first, “I swore by yon golden shield.”
SAID THE second, “I swore by yon silver
shield.'*
The king rode around the statue and looked
at it from both sides. A scornful laugh laughed
he.
“By my helidoon, you have raised much dust
for naught this midsummer's day. Behold, yon
shield on yonder statue is gold on one side and
silver on the other. Methinks you have learned
that there are two sides to every shield and two
sides to every quarrel. He who fights for half
a truth has fought but half a fight. I do now
decree that all my knights, before they begin to
fight, shall look on both sides of this shield.”
“I do also decree that all the married people
in my realm, before they begin to quarrel, must
also look at the shield with its golden side and
its silver side. There are two sides to every
shield, and two sides to every quarrel. He who
fights for half a truth has fought but half a
fight.*’
OUR TWO brave knights got up with many
grunts and groans. They lifted their weary
bodies onto their steeds and with bowed heads
and aching shoulders rode away, dreaming of the
glories of knighthood.
So it was that the married people of Quixotica
never quarreled any more from that day on. They
obeyed the king's edict. Before they began to
quarrel they looked at the statue of Amadeus of
Gaul and his shield, which is gold on one side
and silver on the other. They were not able
to quarrel any more, because they could see that
there are two sides to every shield and two sides
to every question. They could see that he who
fights for half a truth has fought but half a fight.
And so it was also that the motto of the kingdom
of Quixotica came to be engraved on the coat of
arms: “Tis better to jaw than to war."
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
