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GEORGIA BULLETIN
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 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
PUBLISHER - Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kiernan
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sue Spence
2699 Peachtree N.E.
P.O. Box 11667
Norths ide Station
Atlanta S, Ga.
Member of the Catholic Press Association
and Subscriber to N.C.W.C. News Service
Telephone 231-1281
Second Class Permit at Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A. $5.00
Canada $5.50
Foreign $6.50
Community - People
In both the cities and suburbs,
Catholic clergy and Catholic lai
ty must show a willingness to
strengthen the physical assets
of the community through spiri
tual as well as educational for
mation. In this time of transi
tion we have a unique opportu
nity to live our faith - that we
are all one in Christ. The poor
and the needy offer us the chance
to practice the spiritual and cor
poral works of mercy. Did we
just learn by rote in our child
hood or can we take up the chal
lenge of our belief that faith
without good works is dead?
When the people of a commu
nity band together through mu
tual sympathy and understand
ing great things can be accom
plished. However, it is our con
tention that too many of us are
immature spiritually and social
ly. We have an immaturity that
blinds us to the immediate and
lay apostalate. One June 1 Pope
John XXIII “Sincerely invited”
4,000 Salesian lay “co-opera-
tors” to assume their “place
of responsibility as individuals
and members of a community
under the friendly guidance of
the bishops and at the side of
the priests in brotherly under
standing.”
In his attempts to bring the
Church to the world, the Catho
lic layman will find himself com
ing under heavy fire from timid
souls. These are the people who
like to think that no improvement
of the lay apostolate is neces
sary. Of the they are people who
show no concern for the world at
all, as if the Church had noplace
in it. To them, the community
means only the Catholic commu
nity, and their interest seems
confined to this.
CAREER WITH A FUTURE
LITURGY AND LIFE
New Vocation Notions
the perceptible. We must, there
fore, resolve to grow up with
and in the Church by realizing
our hidden powers.
This is in direct line with the
Holy See’s instructions on the
The press recently gave pro
minent coverage to a story from
Baltimore reporting that the
teenager concerned in the school
prayer case before the Supreme
Court had been persecuted by
other boys.
It was alleged in the story
that William J. Murray III had
been heckled by anpther boy who
waved a rosary in his face. It
appears now that young Murray
has failed in his attempt to have
his alleged persecutor arrest
ed.
Baltimore Municipal Judge Ho
ward L. Aaron has refused to is
sue a warrant against Brent Mc-
Cully, 16, who denied thehecking
and said he actually waved only
a package of candy.
Young Murray, now an 11th
“For a small donation
we could get a hot chocolate!”
Alas, the layman’s task is not
in some ivory tower. He lives in
the world and must face the rea
lities of it. He must bring the
world to the Church in the same
manner he is taking the Church
to the world.
grader at Polytechnic Institute,
is the objector, along with his
mother, Mrs. Madalyn Murray,
in a case that seeks to declare
public school religious exercis
es unconstitutional. The Murrays
profess to be atheists.
What is most disconcerning
about this alleged heckling is
that few papers have reported
the latest incident, in which the
charge of heckling was dismis
sed for lack of evidence. We say
this in full knowledge that young
Murray should not be persecut
ed for his atheistic beliefs. He
is entitled to freedom of ex
pression.
However, this charge has an
indirect bearing on the case now
before the Supreme Court. In
deed, those who support the Mur
rays’ position charge that his
non-compliance with the public
school religious exercises has
led to his suffering indignities of
one sort or another; and that this
is an abridgement of his free
dom. Unfounded charges, there
fore, are important in the issue
-- if only to prove how mis
leading the argument can get.
BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA
(Priest of the Pittsburgh Orstory)
MARCH 24, FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT. For
the Christian, the Church building, and particu
larly the liturgy which is celebrated in that
building, is '‘Jerusalem", a foretaste of the Joy
and amity, the freedom and fulfillment of heaven.
Baptism is the gate to this Jerusalem.
So today, midway in our annual baptismal re
treat and refresher course, we sing in the En
trance Hymn: "Rejoice, Jerusalem; assemble,
all you lovers of Jerusalem I You shared her
grief, share now her joy..."
The "Rejoice" or "Laetare" theme is set in
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
March is Religious Vocations Month. This
prompts us to take a fresh look at the entire
notion of vocation. The idea is simultaneously so
familiar and so beclouded with complications and
cliches that it needs an energetic re-examina-
tion. We need rather desperately to open our
minds and to take a clear, unobstructed view of
the place vocation holds in the Christian under
standing of life. This will be a first step in the
direction of understanding a number of related
religious problems as well.
The first fact to be grasped about vocation is
that it is a particular grace, purposeful and in
dividual. What 'distinguishes the grace of voca
tion is that its aim is not pir-
marily the sanctification of
the recipient. Its end is ser
vice, ministry to others and
to the Church. Vocation is a
mission, an impulse to meet
particular needs of the Mys
tical Body of Christ through
consecration to a specific
form of activity. The salva
tion and sanctification of the
recipient of the vocation are certainly involved
but they are to be achieved from the service
bestowed on Christ in his members. Only within
the context of the Church can we begin to grasp
the notion of vocation. It only has its real mean
ing in terms of the bodily unity and mutual de
pendence of all the members, each with its dis
tinct function "in Christ Jesus". Put into theo
logical terms the grace of vocation is in effect
a pattern of actual graces designed to achieve
a particular end necessary for the well-being of
the Church.
THE NATURE of vocation is to be outgoing,
generous, loving, unselfish. This is an extremely
important point. When we speak of vocation, we
are concerned not with anything egocentric, "my
soul, my salvation," but with a stable direction
of an individual’s activity to the benefit and ser
vice of others, a social responsibility. It is, then,
a specific example of the loving-kindness to
neighbor which is for Christians always the sole
proof of love of God. Vocation is a logical out
come of being a Christian. Within Christianity
there must be a sense of vocation - and there must
be vocations - because Christians must love and
serve their fellows. It is part and parcel of the
requisite conformity to Christ who came "not to
be served but to serve and to give his life for
many."
LITURGICAL WEEK
the First Reading, which sees Baptism as a li
beration, contrasting the Christian age of fulfill
ment with the former age of
§ the Law and of hope. Our eu-
charistic pledge of liberty (for
we who share Him as our food
also live in Him and share
His victory) is foreshadowed
in the Gospel miracle offeed-
MONDAY, MARCH 25, THE
ANNUNCIATION TO THE
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. For the Law could only
condemn, since we were powerless to fulfill it
perfectly. Until the Word of God, His Son, be
came our flesh, man, sharing our condition even to
One immediately obvious implication of this
understanding of vocation is that it is inseparable
from the Christian notion of sacrifice. Corre
sponding to the individual grace of vocation there
must be a decision on the part of the recipient
to dedicate himself voluntarily to the service of
the Mystical Body. This decision will necessarily
involve sacrifice. Sacrifice is always the price
of love. The will to love and to seek a particu
lar good wholeheartedly must also have a less
positive aspect.
IT MUST mean deliberately foregoing other
goods that are not compatible with the primary
object of love. This is the purest and most abso
lute exercise of freedom. In the acceptance of a
vocation - any vocation - the goods to be sacrific
ed are those which would dilute the unselfish,
loving, generous direction of the grace of voca
tion. Again, this is a specific and exact appli
cation of the fundamental place of sacrifice in
Christian spirituality.
Against the background of this conception of vo
cation as a dedication to service based on sacri
fice, we can raise all the particular and vexing
questions that face us. Two are especially press
ing: the need for and the shortage of priestly and
religious vocations on one hand and the equally
urgent need and shortage of dedicated and inform
ed lay leaders in the Church. In some areas of
the world the Church is involved in what can only
be described as a last-ditch struggle forsurvival
because of lack of priests and religious. In our
own country the problem is rapidly growing and
in our particular region it has always been a con
stant element of concern.
THAT the need for dedicated and deeply com
mitted lay leaders is most urgent has been the
continuous message of the Popes for over a gene
ration. Despite numerous and glorious exceptions
the laity still has not taken its due place in the
struggle to "renew all things in Christ," to bring
every sphere of humanactivity under the influence
of Christ.
How are we to account for these failures? We
cannot impugn the generosity of God, as if He
could withhold his grace from his Church. The
defect may well be that we Christians have lost
the true understanding of freedom and the ne
cessary mandate of our faith to sacrifice and
service. We may have so absorbed a self-indul
gent and self-centered conception of life that we
do not grasp - and do not communicate to our
youth - the disposition to accept the grace of vo
cation when it is offered.
nine months of IITe in the womb of a woman. Be
cause of the event we celebrate today, we know
the freedom of God's grace we celebrated yes
terday. Mary is herself a hymn to the grace'of
God, to the Love that wrought the Incarnation.
To praise and to venerate her is to sing such a
hymn.
MARCH 26, TUESDAY, FOURTH WEEK IN
LENT. Lent is a school, but unlike any other
school in this one our teacher is Almighty God.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that the origin
of His message and His mission is not that hu
man nature which is His.
It is the Father, "one who has a right to send"
(Gospel). The same Father, who, in the First
Continued On Page 5
Misleading Issue?
A Foretaste Of Joy And Amity
WANT COURTESY
Pity The Lay
Lecturer
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Among the extra curricular activities of the
editor of a diocesan weekly newspaper is that of
lecturing before parochial groups, from the Holy
Name Society down through the CYO activities
committee.
Most editors don’t fuss about it and willing go
out of their way to oblige such organizations. The
trouble is, our parochial and diocesan societies
have no idea how to treat the average lay speaker.
The clergy have no trouble. Whether they are local
boys or men from out of town, they are treated
as if they are performing a favor in addressing
the Catholic group. On top of it all, get the clergy
at least one fellow priest present to listen.
Alas, lay speak
ers, — especially
diocesan editors —
very seldom get
treated with any such
respect. First of all,
the program chair
man is liable to ring
up a week before the
Communion Break
fast is scheduled and
explain that he was supposed to ask last month
but had been busy. If you say you're booked up that
Sunday or that eveny, you’re almost accused of
lying or playing hard to get. So, too, if the affair
is planned several months ahead, there’s hardly
ever any confirmation; and one is supposed to
find out the time, place, and how to get there,
without assistance.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM.
THERE also the subject of an honorlum. Most
Catholic groups never mention it to a lay speaker
and don’t think he expects it. However, with a
priest it’s different. Whether Father wants it or
not, he’ll be offered one. Sometimes the lay speak
er is deliberately embarrassed by the question:
"What do you charge?"
Don’t misunderstand my point. I am not talk
ing here about those persons important enough
(or who think they are) to hire a lecture service
which makes the arrangements and sets the fees-
for a commission. Nol Tm talking about those of
us who are expected to go out almost every Sun
day morning (and some evenings) to prove how
apostolic we are; and who are pushed around as if
we had strict obligations and no rights in the mat
ter.
AND DON'T misunderstand my point on lecture
fees. Most editors lecture for nothing. Indeed, I
have a policy which is followed by most of my
confreres: No fees for monthly communion break
fasts, or any monthly meetings of parish groups in
the See city. Outside the See city, a token honorium
for such meetings to meet gas or other travel ex
penses. However, for annual breakfastSjOrmeet-
lngs for which there is a charge to the audience, a
fee is expected. Nothing fabulous, mind you; just
what the traffic can bear.
I mention all this because some of us will form a
union if Catholic organizations don’t change their
ways. In some areas. Catholic groups have found
an answer—they form a lecture bureau from their
own membership and a good time is had by all.
However, the Holy Name Society, The Knights of
Columbus, and others, should give lay speakers
greater consideration and respect. Most of us who
do the running around have families. We go to con
siderable trouble, in all kinds of weather, to ob
lige. Yet here's the type of thing that happens:
Recently I had to get up at an unearthly hour
to attend the first Mass at my parish church and
then travel quite a distance for a Communion
breakfast. It started around 9:15 a.m. and the
meal was over some 30 minutes later. Alas, the
chairman commenced the monthly business meet
ing, which included the election of officers. An
hour and a half later, I was expected to give a
serious talk to men who wanted to rush home to
take their families to the last Mass.
ANOTHER recent experience can also be related
now that St. Patrick's feast day has just passed.
I attended a local Holy Name breakfast, which
included community singing as part of the pro
gram. Nothing is more revolting to me than bois
terous singing at that time of the morning. Can
you imagine the choirmaster leading the assembly
in two verses each of "When Irish Eyes are
Smiling" and "My Wild Irish Rose". The sounds
were more reminiscent of closing time at a coun
try pub. But that wasn't all. The choirmaster had
the gall to leave shortly afterwards, taking with
him half my audience. At this particular break
fast, we started off with over 100 hardy souls.
When I started to talk, there were less than fifty.
I’ll admit that I was not as good an attraction as
the menu, prepared by the local ladies, but no one
knows the difficulty 1 had finding the place—and
the time it took to find parking space within
walking distance.
Yes, the next time you have a lay speaker at
your parochial group meeting, give a little thought
to the fact that he’s human like you. He may not
be a Fulton Sheen or a Frank Sheed— but neither
is he that expensive. In most cases all he wants
is elementary courtesy — and that is as free
as he is.