The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, April 04, 1963, Image 3

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GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY APRIL 4, 1963 PACE 3 FOR CHURCH Fr. Hans Kueng Emphasizes Vital Theology Freedom COLLEGEV1LLE, Minn. (RNS) — Father Hans Kueng, Roman Catholic theologian and consultant to the Second Vati can Council, declared here that the Catholic Church lags behind Protestant theology in many fields because of "a lack of freedom." The Swiss-born priest, dean of the theological faculty at the University of Tuebingen, Ger many, spoke before 2,500 per sons who crowded St. John’s University Abbey Church. AMONG the theological studies in which the Church is lagging, he said, are exe gesis, history of dogma and comparative religion. "And," Father Kueng said, "if the Catholic press is often more boring and less honest than the secular press, this is usually not due to lack of im agination or integrity in Catho lic editors, but again to lack of freedom." The 34-year-old theologian, who attracted international attention with his book, “The Council, Reform and Reunion," reiterated several points he made in previous talks around the country. These included re marks favoring abolition of the Church’s Index of Forbidden FAIR OAKS CLEANERS & LAUNDRY 1506 ATLANTA ROAD SMYRNA. GEORGIA PHONE: 428-3768 Books and relaxation of rules on mixed marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics. FATHER KUENG, who arrived in the U. S. in mid- March for a 16-city lecture tour, said "the more the Catho lic Church makes freedom a reality within her—freedom of thought, or speech, of writing and of action — the more this freedom. . .will represent an advance towards the Christians separated from her." “Certainly," he continued, “freedom, like so much that is good, is a dangerous thing. More freedom in the Church means tht the demand on the individual priest, theologian, layman, is not for less but more sense of order and author ity, not for less, but for more genuine free obedience." “But the Catholic Church of today is surely ripe for all this," he commented. "And it would be precisely in this re newal of freedom of speech and writing that she would re present a challenge to the Pro testant Church to investigate the question of true authority." FATHER Kueng replied to questions from a student audi ence later. Some of the topics and his comments were: On relations of Scripture and tradition: “The Church has al ways to see what God is saying through Scniptur#. Often canon law has been more important than the Gospel." OktAUR ATLANTA yUAlOt- WHERl SAV,NGS PAY Liberal PP?.Dividends On Savings I. Also Branch Office At 27 Smith St Fairburn, Ga. 606 5 CENTRAL AVI • HAPIV.ILII ga INSURED, NCCJ Award recipients from left to right: Dr. Herman L. Turner, Edgar J. Forio. Richard H Rich, John A. Sibley. CIVIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS Atlantans Get Interfaith Plaques From NCCJ Four hundred Atlantans gath ered at the Dinkier Plaza Ho tel last week to witness the pre sentation of the National Con ference of Christians and Jews' Silver Placque to John A. Sib ley, Edgar J. Forio, and Rich ard H. Rich for their outstan ding civic accomplishments and contributions to improved in tergroup relations. ARCHBISHOP Paul J. Hal- linan offered the Invocation and special music was presented by the Courtland Voices, a selec ted froup from the Glee Club of St. Joseph’s High School un der the direction of Sister Mary Maddala. The Reverend John- W beahy, Superintendent of Ca tholic Schools was seated with the honored guests at the Dais. James F. Oates, Jr„ Pre sident of the Equitable Life As surance Society, New York City, was the featured speaker of the evening. Speaking on the busi nessman's responsibilities of citizenship, Oates said: "Are businessman properly concern ed with results other than im- midiate dollar profits? A mom ent's reflection is convincing that long term continuing pro fits can be achieved only where the enterprise is found to be acceptable by the public which it serves and where the soc iety in which it operates enjoys health, education, economic strength, and political and re ligious freedom." "PRESENT day managers are concerned not only with short-term profits, but also, and more importantly, with maintenance of a social, poli tical, and economic climate which assures long term busi ness success. "Good men will seek to serve the social concerns of their en vironment and particularly seek to do so if they are wise bu siness administrators." DINNER Chairman James V. Carmichael, President of Scri- pto, Inc., lauded those who had gathered as a "living witness of our determination to build an ever-greater city, the stren gth of which is not only in the altitude of its buildings, the LOUISVILLE, KY. (NC)—Ch urches have an essential role in urban renewal —that of bringing "human compassion" to play on the process, a Ch icago priest said here. This point was made in an interview by Msgr. John Egan, director of the Chicago Arch diocesan Conservation Council, which acts as a liaison bet ween the archdiocese and urban renewal officials. "REMEMBERING human rights and dignity is one of ur ban renewal’s major duties," Msgr. Egan said. "There must be a compassionate reaction to those displaced people. "Before people are asked leave the homes ot tneir choice, there should be places for them latitude of its commerce, but al so in the attitudes of its citi zens." In bringing greetings from the City of Atlanta, Vice-Mayor Sam Massell, Jr. declared, "We have come to the time when we must recognize that there is only one reasonable response to those minorities who are de manding of us that we stop discriminating against them — and that is simply to stop dis criminating." to live without overcrowding other areas," he declered. Urban renewal must be a mat ter of active concern to an en tire metropolitan area, the monsignor stressed. "It's not just a problem for the city fat hers. What is going to effect a certain section of a city will affect everyone," he said. MSGR. EGAN said all ch urches must work together on urban renewal matters because "these are human problems, be they Protestant, Catholic or Jewish." "All of our churches are essential to the reconstruction of our communities, for only through them is true human compassion motivated," he said. MONSIGNOR SAYS: Urban Renewal A Church Role SPACE TRAINEE ‘Little Guy’ Reaching For The Moon Rocket EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -NC—A little guy here is reaching for the moon. And there’s a good chance that Air Force Capt. Edward J. Dwight, Jr., who's only five feet, four inches tall, may realize his objective—by being rocketed on the quarter - million-mile trip from earth to moon. Capt. Dwight, 29, first Negro to be chosen as a trainee for the U.S. manned space program, said he is "very definitely pleased" about his selection. HE IS one of 15 captains named (March 30) for a seven- month course beginning June 17 at the aerospace research pi lots' school here. When they graduate they will be available for future space programs— either as astronauts, managers qr consultants. Asked what role he would like to fill, Capt. Dwight said: "I'd like to do a little flying." He stressed, however, that his training will shape the nature of his decision. Capt. Dwight, a native of Kan sas City, Kan., is a Catholic. His wife, Sue, is a convert. They have two children, Tina Sheree, 7, and Edward III, 5. One of his four sisters is Sis ter Martin Mary, the first Ne gro woman to be received into the community of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ed ward J. Dwight, of Kansas City, Kan., are Catholics. ASKED TO comment about space flights and religion, Capt. Dwight said: "1 am of the opin ion that God endows each of us with certain talents. Included Decatur Sister Gets Fellowship Si8ter Mary Joseph LH.M., a teacher at Saint Peter and Paul grade school, Decatur, has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship for graduate study in the academic year 1963-64. Sister Mary Joseph, a member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs, Joseph J. Mattern of Philade lphia, Pennsylvania. She will use the Fellowship for graduate study towards the Masters' De gree. in my make-up is quite a bit of aggressiveness. I feel very strongly about the Faith I have obtained through my Catholic education. Toward my job, I feel as a priest does toward his vocation." Capt. Dwight said "there is a lot involved in this question" and "I have to think about it." He then said that if he were selected for a moon shot, "I have faith that God will moti vate me to carry out my assign ment to the best of my ability." He also said his "faith helps remove the element of fear when you think about the dang erous aspects of space flight." AS FOR the children, the boy doesn’t quite understand what it's all about, but my daughter does." He added that his daugh ter "has learned a lot from watching the space shots on TV, "wanted to know and if I’m going to the moon?" Asked his size and weight, Captain Dwight said he is five feet, four Inches tall and weighs 128 pounds. "I guess you’d call me a little guy," he said. LAWYER SAYS School Prayer Debaters Should Admit Faith WASHINGTON -(NC)—A Ca tholic constitutional law spe cialist urged here that support ers and opponents of the Su preme Court's school prayer ruling stop questioning each others' motives. William B. Ball, executive director and general councel of the Pennsylvania Catholic Welfare committee.*, called for " a manful effort to distin guish expressions of malice and bigotry from expressions of ho nestly held principles and gen uinely felt fears" in this area. BALL made this appeal in an address (March 29) at a ses sion on "Religion in the Schools" during the 15th annual conference of the National Ci vil Liberties Clearing House, a voluntary association of na tional organizations interested in civil liberties. Others speaking at the same session were the Rev. Dean M. Kelley, executive director of the Department of Religious Li berty, National Council of Chu rches, and Theodore Powell, public information consultant to the Connecticut Department of Education. Ball in his speech urged that "expressions of ’principle’ and ’fear’ ... with respect to this thorny problem of religion in the schools" be taken at their face value. He criticized both opponents and supporters of the Supreme Court’s ruling last June against the New York Regent’s Prayer for failing to grant the good faith of those who disagree with them. ON THE one hand, he said, there has been "a disturbing amount of innuendo" in the wake of the school prayer ruling "that its supporters all want to kill religion in the United States." On the other hand, he said, there has been " a very nasty attempt to identify all of those who protested the ... decision with that handful of segregation ist anti-Negro bigots who also assailed the decision — not indeed out of their love of God but because of their hatred of the Supreme Court." Ball asserted that the court’s ruling "went far beyond" the question of school prayers com posed by public authorities and in fact applied to the whole question of in-school religious practices. "It would seem inevitable, therefore, that the Supreme Co urt would hold that other re ligious exercies andpractices- such as Bible -reading and re citation of the Lord's Prayer - should be found to come with in the proscription of the ... holding," he said. (TheSupreme Court now has under advisement two cases, from Maryland and Pennsylva nia, in which public school Bi ble reading and recitation of the Lord's Prayer have been challenged.) BALL REMARKED that there is "much talk at present about the need, from the point of view of community tensions, to cus hion the effect of the expected Supreme Court decision outlaw ing Bible reading and the Lord's Prayer in the public schools." "However, not an easing of tensions but a further exciting of tensions will result from name-calling, attacking of mo tives and attempts to misre present or dam up deeply felt expressions of protest, if such there shall be as a result of such decisions," he said. The Rev. Kelley, reviewing reactions of religious groups and spokesmen to the school prayer ruling, said that the decision is "becoming more generally accepted among Pro testant leadership." HOWEVER, he added, "there is still widespread dissatisfac tion among some of their fol lowers, especially in those parts of the country — such as the ’Bible Belt’ — where such practices are traditional." It would be tragic if we were to lose our nerve in this gen eration and retreat to a pre constitutional condition of mul tiple establishment of religion, abandoning the brave adventure our forefathers undertook," he said. Powell In his speech was cri tical of “crusading religionists who would save souls and fos ter national unity and strength by government adoption of some official creed." grade the Negroes in favor of whites," he said. "Some, as a recent report by the B'nai B’rith emphasizes, proclaim Protest antism over Catholicism and Christianity over Judiaism by failing to describe the history of religious liberty in a fair way." In voicing such criticism, Justice Douglas said, he was not joining the "ranks of those who censor books." He asked: "Do they ever question their assumption that religion is enhanced or Amer icanism is strengthened by cer emonies conducted under com pulsion of law? Do they ever ask what kind of faith or freedom is advanced by such methods of in doctrination? Have they ever really looked at our religious heritage?" EARLIER Supreme Court Ju stice William O. Douglas warn ed against efforts to bar con troversial books from schools. "My plea is different," he declared. "We need taskforces which make as sure as pos sible that the literature is ade quate for the multi-racial, mul ti-religious and multi-ideolog ical groups that make up our nation. HIPPED NEEDED AT ONCE ' DOLLARS FOR BRICKS" _ TO BUILD -ST. PATRICK’S SCHOOL PHENIX CITY, ALABAMA c/o SISTER MARY JAMES "If we are to have the stren gth of men unafraid of ideas, we must be alert guardians of our school libraries," Justice Douglas said (March 28). He said there is "more pro paganda in our education than we appreciate." "MANY texts subtly down- Peachtree Road Pharmacy Pick Up and Delivery Service CE 7-6466 406? Peachtree Rd. 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