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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1963 the Archdiocese of Atlanta M niTl V FTTfTiJ nU JLJLli M MJ^I S CRVIN G GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta Published Every Week at the Decatur Dekalb News PUBLISHER - Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kieman ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sue Spence Member of the Catholic Press Association and Subscriber to N.C.W.C. News Service Telephone 231-1281 U.S.A. $5.00 Canada $5.50 Foreign $6.50 Second Class Permit at Decatur, Georgia 2699 Peachtree N.E. P.O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta 5, Ga. Wall Is Down Atlanta’s Wall of Shame has been torn down. The barricades, so blatantly erected to separate citizens of Atlanta, have been declared illegal and unconsti tutional. Atlanta again has the opportunity to show the rest of the country that it is way ahead in establishing harmonious race relations. It is regretablethat it took a court order to achieve the eli mination of "The Wall**. Such a physical barrier between white and Negro neighbors could only cause trouble, no matter how pure were the motives of those who ordered its erection. The Court confirmed what everyone already knew -- the barricades were built on Peyton and Harlan Roads "To establish a racial buffer barrier or zone with the view of stabi lizing or effecting stability for white race ownership and occu pancy ... and preventing or at tempting to prevent property ownership and occupancy of said area or areas by members of the Negro race.** All can agree with Mayor Ivan Allan, Jr., that steps must be taken to prevent unscrupulous real estate operators from “block busting.” However, we trust that he will be the first to caution against using any sug gested code "of fair practices 0 to prevent Negroes from obtain ing decent housing in decent neighborhoods. Negro housing needs are not the cause of so- called block busting. The cause is solely the greed of some real estatemen of both races, who ex ploit human misery for personal profit. At the same time, our Negro fellow citizens should not expect integrated neighborhoods to blos som overnight. A call for patience in this regard must not be con strued as promotion of the heresy of gradualism. Constructive ac tion must come from our Negro as well as our white citizens. Carping negativism will achieve nothing except perhaps the back ward step to further tensions. Vocations Month March is the month dedicated to vocations. While we would prefer that every month be a vocation month, we shall settle for a greater stress at this time. What is a vocation? How does one know if one has one7 A vo cation is an invitation from God to follow some particular line of life to gain salvation. A man must have a vocation to become a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher; to be married and the father of a family, or to remain single. And strangely enough those chosen by God to follow some particular fields in life seem to have little difficulty in recognizing where they belong. But when it comes to a vo cation to the religious life, it becomes a problem of gigantic proportions. Sincere boys and girls, young men and young women, are often AN ALTAR BOY NAMED "SPECK" faced with the question: "How do I know if I have a vocation?” They will never know unless they are willing to give it a chance. We must not think that the invitation to follow God will come like a bolt of lightning. Admittedly, such a thing did hap pen to St. Paul, but then God does not always use such ex treme methods. Neither will the amswer to the question come through airmail special delivery. It is a consoling thought that many of the saints, and certainly most of the active priests, we know, took quite some time to discover their vocation was the real thing. We hope that parents will be the first to encourage the genuine religious vocation. We know the rewards for such encouragement. We see it in the happy fami lies that have provided the Church with priests, Brothers and Sisters. It has meant some sacrifice of loved ones for a greater Love. But needs of the archdiocese are such that we must all work and pray for a harvest of religious vocations in order that the Church will grow and prosper, keeping pace with the demands of modern so ciety. RAVAGING INNOCENT AND GUILTY ALIKE LITURGY AND LIFE Capital Punishment Study BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW The tide of public interest in the morality of capital punishment ebbs and flows at almost pre dictable intervals. The Chessman execution in California attracted international attention. At the present moment here in Georgia the case of seventeen year old Preston Cobb has knotted to gether the problems of juvenile crime, racial discrimination, inconsistent criminal law as well as the right of the state to snuff out the life of a human being with the flick of a switch. Another recent, although comparatively minor, tide of in terest followed the carefully conceived and close- a ly reasoned study published by the Episcopal Church in the United States. Lacking the newsworthy drama that ap peals to the general public, this excellent document did not stimulate a general dis cussion of the issues. It must be counted an opportunity lost. Much of the discussion that advocates or condemns the death penalty for serious crime sadly misses the point or grants it only scant acknowledgement. Too many defend ers of capital punishment speak like self-righte ous vigilantes calling down indiscriminate de struction upon all evil doers and seem unwilling to face the vexing complexities of the problem. The repetition of slogans and the lurid details of criminal history generate intense heat but no light around the decisive issue. On the other hand, sentimental attacks on the death penalty that are totally innocent of objective reasoning are often devoid of concern for society and seem to reduce the area of moral responsibility to nought. THE effort to prevent crime is a matter of the gravest concern to society. The taking of hu man life is a terrifying deed. The proper func tioning of law and the limits to the power of state authority are momentous matters. To weigh all these in the balance in order to decide the issue of capital punishment there is needed ob jective and morally and factually informed rea soning. The degree of our willingness to engage the issue on this level will mark the measure of our civilization. The authority to inflict punishment is insepa rable from the authority to legislate. Legisla tive authority does not merely counsel; it obliges and, if need be, coerces compliance with its LITURGICAL WEEK just mandates. The state may punish criminals, not blindly but for the accomplishment of de finite ends. The punishment it inflicts may not be for the sake of vengeance. For the Christian, vengeance is always immoral. On a purely natural level, the notion of revenge is degrading even when dressed in the customary cliche of “pay ing one's debt to society." The primary aim of the punishment of crime is the protection of so ciety. Society is protected by the .removal of the criminal and, above all, by the deterrent effect the knowledge of the penalty should have upon the potential criminal. A further hope of penal law in any enlightened community is to rehabi litate the criminal and to restore him to a sane and productive position in the community. Does capital punishment serve these purposes? It certainly protects society from the possible further attacks of this particular criminal by re moving him definitely. However, as in the self- defense of an individual or a defensive war on the part of a nation, the least violent and still effective method is mandatory. It is possible to remove criminals from society even permanent ly by other means which are less violent and do not involve the horrifying possibility of irrevo cable justice to a falsely condemned innocent person. Clearly, concern for the criminal's rehabili tation is completely ignored when the death penal ty is invoked. The argument is reduced to one question not easy to answer; does capital punishment deter the commission of heinous crime? The answer can only come from a knowledge of the facts. The facts indicate that it is extremely doubtful that fear of the death penalty deters would be murderers, traitors, or kidnappers. European nations and states in our own country that do not employ the death penalty do not have a high er ratio of serious crime than those which do. The twisted psychology of the desperate criminal apparently does not equip him to consider se riously the consequences of detection. The euphemisms and secrecy with which we sur round our executions seem to indicate, not the kind of moral self-assurance we ought to have in such a grave matter, but perhaps a lurking doubt, a guilty conscience that we may after all be practicing a left-over savagery. We need to think this out - honestly and objectively. Transfiguration Is A 6 Preview* “Doesn’t anything stop you?” BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA (Priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory) MARCH 10, SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT. To day’s Gospel continues the lesson of last week’s ember days: Jesus as fulfillment of all that Moses and Elias stood for in the Old Covenant. The Transfiguration is the kind of “preview” that heightens faith, expectancy, eagerness...and that gives incentive for moral discipline (First Read ing). Perhaps it can teach us something, too, about the relation between liturgy and the rest of life, between our moments of public worship and our moments of work, rest, recreation, family and civic duties. Liturgy, public worship, should be a ’’preview’’ of sorts, a preview of heaven, of ultimate beauty and love and harmony, something to lift up men’s hearts and renew their spirits. The Ecumenical Council showed its concern over the fact that Catholic public worship, espe cially Sunday Mass, is in most places still far from this. Ugliness (in art, architecture, ves ture) rather than beauty; isolation and individua lism (I don’t want to be both ered during my prayers) in stead of love and unity. Si lence and mental cacophony (priest muttering, congrega tion not responding, every one going about “his own busi ness**) instead of vocal har mony. As the “little Easter,” Sunday Mass should be trans figuration experience for every parish. MARCH 11, MONDAY, SECOND WEEK IN LENT. Lent is a retreat preparing for the feast (Easter Vigil) of our Baptism in the Lord Jesus. In the Gospel He says; “It is myself you look for.” And the Collect, or opening prayer, asks “that your servants in punishing their bodies by fasting from food may abstain from sin by striving to be holy.” We do not abstain from sin by cataloging faults and avoiding them, but only “by striving to be holy.” And when we look for holiness, “it is myself you look for.” MARCH 12, TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK IN LENT. Those who do not believe in applying our modern knowledge of ancient languages and liter ary forms to the Bible will still see in today’s. Gospel a condemnation of Jewish and Christian etiquette. But the whole thrust of the Mass and the Gosp reading is toward trust in God, toward the wors^ Continued On Page 5 PENANCE Lenten Spacemen Lent is always a difficult time of the year — and for many reasons. And of all things, Astro naut John Glenn brought this home in a recent television interview. When Colonel Glenn, whirling around in his giant centrifuge, was strugglingfor consciousness against the simulated gravitational strains of take off and landing,when he was pulling himself out of bed in the early morning for a daily two-mile run before breakfast, when his work was such that he could spend only week-ends with the family he loved so well, he was not feel ing sorry for him self and complain ing about the penance he had to do. He did not even use the word “penance.” He saw it as the necessary, even thrilling - though, of course, still unpleasant - preparation for the outer space. His “space penance” was something he full wanted to do. What about our religious penance How much do we really want to do penance duri: Lent? HOW often are we heard grumbling about me less lunches and about the other almost-to sacrifices that canon law requires? And how m do we try to get by without any other penanc 1 our lives - as if Glenn were always lookin’ 1 ' an excuse to run only half a mile, rather tha‘ e full two miles every morning? The difference between ourselves and t lS “ tronaut, It seems, is that he realized hov 10 * 1 his physical system needed two full miles on “ ditionlng if it was going to be able to 1 ^ REAPINGS AT K4NDOM. demands of space travel, so he actY wanted it. But the minimizers among us, a^ ose who complain, simply do not realize wha int * s ^ or * No, it is not preparation for oute^ ace * ^ * s preparation for an altogether new nension reality. For that other space w*** heaven. THE MINIMIZERS’ basic defe^Y wel1 be more a matter of fuzzy thinking * of bad wlE They have lost much of the posit/* 3 ionof what our Faith is all about. They t c hi terms °* “Thou shalt not. . .”, “Thou • •”» ‘ ,This is allowed but that is forbidden, ^h* 3 * 3 a mor ‘* tal sin but that is a venial s* and so forth. They do not ask WHY. Why Lent? Why penance? we ^ ast J ust be cause It is commanded: Or we see tha* * c ^ essential spiritual training 1 " *bat ultimate, vital step towards the eterna * er3 P ace ^ onv hich our poor, earthbound, time* ind hearts are ever longing? Nothing new about this, ^uinquagesima Sun day’s gospel Our Lord to* 1 ® Twelve, “We are going up to Jerusalem, ••• the So° Man... will be mocked and scour* and spit upon... and on the third day He w'* 36 a 8 a * n ‘” And Saint Luke comments: “They der3tood none these things.” (Luke 18-31-3 BECAUSE the Aposr did noc understand they were not willing to ac* the cross of Our Lord's life. They did : see how t^ 333 ^ « was for His -ising ag on ^ and ascending into heaven. ran away » leavln & only J ohn to stand by ^ beneath the Cross on Calvary which she al- rean V understood. We too m away from the Cross ln our lives be cause! vf Jo not understand it, because we do not see it P 31 ^ of the essential training of heart and will r alone will purify the soul and prepare it for th> ulness *** e in tb * s world and * n world to ,me * “Wlv' t h ere 13 love * th ere 13 n0 labor,” wrote mt Augustine. “And if there is labor, the labor ie ^ * s l° ved **And our astronauts’ witness t0 natural truth of this insight. Now, during Lent is time for Catholics to give their witness t0 ir 3uperaaturai truth as well. yR OUR part, we resolve: no more long faces as /e sit down to a no-solids-between-meals tea ^ak, no more temper tantrums as we reach for t deliberately empty cigarette pack. . .no more this because we are going to be thinking less x>ut our stomachs and more about that high pur- ose for which we are in training, that other space .ha; lies above and beyond outer space—those realities we call Heaven, Grace, God, and Love. Come to think of it, we'd better set aside a definite time every day for briefing as the as tronauts were briefed day by day for the aj>- proaching flight. Regular spiritual reading should enable us to evaluate our spiritual stamina and examine honestly our reserves of love and super natural energy. And it should help us devise every new way of moving towards our ultimate goal with practical determination, with a full heart if on an empty stomach, and always with a clear under- standing of exactly what we are doing and why.