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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN Archdiocese of Atlanta the 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 Kieraan ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sue Spence 2699 Peachtree N.E. P.O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta 5, 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 ‘Like’ Apostolate The late Cardinal Suhard of Paris once spoke of “the apos tolate of like by like!" He said this principle is often “super ficially understood." And so it is. It is “superfically under stood" by the doctor or the law yer or the candlestick maker who gives speeches -- perfectly good speeches, of course - about Com munism in the labor movement or Laos, China, but does little or nothing in an organized manner to Christianize the economic pra ctices of his own profession. not carry it out as an isolated individual, nor can he satisfy his social obligations by passing re solutions at the meetings of fr aternal organizations, necessary and important as these organiz ations are in their own right. Now is the time for lay act ion. Humanly speaking, we can almost say that it is now or never - so serious is the break down of social morality in the world at large. "IT'S FUNNY WE DON'T GET THE SAME RESPONSE" NEW ENCYCLICAL New Spirit To Meet Needs It is “superficially under stood" by the employer or man agement representative who knows more about the mistakes and abuses of the AF of L and the CIO than he does about the mistakes and abuses of the Ch amber of Commerce and the Na tional Association of Manu factures. It is “superficially under stood" by the trade unionist who fancies himself a crusader for social justice ("thank God I am not like the rest of men!") but somehow or other never gets ar ound to attending the meetings of his local union; or ignores un ion corruption. It is “superficially under stood ’ by any one who does not realize that his principal social responsibility is to be physically and spiritually present as a wit ness to Christ in his own ev- vironment and among his own confreres, whatever his occupa tion or profession. He can carry out this responsibility in our kind of society only by actively par ticipating in his own appropriate economic organization. He can- We have often had occasion to draw readers’ attention to the in decent and almost pornographic movie advertising appearing in some of our daily newspapers. And we have suggested that-the editors of such papers should be made aware of the harm committed against families and the community by smut ads. Alas, we think it time for another re minder. In the past few weeks, news papers in various communities of the archdiocese have been accepting advertisements for movies which should cause all decent people to protest. Most of these ads are unfit for family reading. The legends and illus trations are an incitement to in decency and are unworthy of being included among the free doms of the press. Our own country, to be sure, is temporarily at least more fa vorably situated than some of the other nations of the world. All the more reason, then, for our taking the initiative and set ting an example to the rest of mankind. „ May we be the first to respond to the most recent challenge of Our Holy Fathe r who has again reminded us of the ter rifying urgency of more intensive lay action. His predecessor the late lamented Pope Pius XII once said; “And since the priest, can reach neither everybody or everything, and as his work is not always able to meet ade quately all needs, those who ser ve in the Catholic Action ranks must offer the aid of their own experience and activity. No one must be idle and lazy in the face of so many evils and dangers while those in the other camp st rive to destroy the very basis of Catholic religion and Christ ian worship. Let it never come to pass that the children of this world are wiser than the child ren of light’ (Luke 16:8); let it never be that the latter are less active than the former." rejected advertising for several perfectly good movies, approved by the Legion of Decency, simply because the illustration or legend has been improper. We know, too, that many readers have queried us .about the Legion of Decency ratings of certain films simply because the advertisements seem to suggest something dirty or improper about them even though they have an A-2 or A-3 rating. The BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA (Priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory) BY FR. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW "The mills of God,” Longfellow wrote, "grind slowly.” This bit of wisdom has been applied, sometimes admiringly and sometimes not, to the proverbial caution of the Church in policy and decision. It has never seemed less true than during the reign of John XXIIL Each step of his policies, as he has rung down the curtain on a past age and ushered into the Church a new spirit to meet the needs of the times, has been sure and vital and accompanied by a sense of urgency. With his revolutionary encyclical on Christianity And Social Progress (Mater et Magi- stra) not quite two years old, Pope John has published a second great and comprehensive social encyclical. It appeals that Christianity And Social Progress was intended to provide a background for the new encyclical, Peace On Earth. More than half its space was devoted to a review of the social teaching contained in the writ ings of Leo XIII, Pius XI and Pius XIL The section on new aspects of the social question touched on several specific areas not previously treated in Papal documents. Especially noteworthy was the evolution of the role necessarily to be played by the State in the solution of social problems. The Holy Father also introduced the principles of social justice and the common good into the sphere of international affairs. The final portion of Mater et Magistra was a plea for an amplified understanding and renewed dedication on the part of Catholics to their role in meeting social needs. THE NEW encyclical is a broad and positive treatise of the contemporary social situation with an eye on the vexing questions regarding which mankind urgently wishes to know the stand of the Catholic Church. With this in mind and to stress the reliance of its doctrine on a philosophy of natural law, the encyclical is addressed not only to the Catholic hierarchy and faithful but to "all men of good will.” It presents a detailed treatment of Catholic social philosophy under four general headings: the rights and duties of the human person; the relationship between individual citizens and the LITURGICAL WEEK and joy (Entrance, Alleluia, Offertory and Com munion Hymns), it refuses to concede even to de authority of the State; how States should deal with one another; and finally, the relationships inherent in a world community of all peoples, "the establishment of such a world community of peoples being urgently demanded by the re quirements of universal common good.” THE HOLY Father opens the encyclical with a salute to the achievements of modem science and technology, which bear witness to an "ast onishing order” in the universe as well as to the greatness of man. To translate this order into a reality in human society man's reason is able to discover the laws which govern human relations " where the Father of all things wrote them...in the nature of man.” Having established the foundation of natural law and defined his viewpoint, Pope John pro ceeds with what will rank as one of the out standing documents of history, nothing less than a Christian declaration of the rights of man, comprehensive in its scope and fully in touch with the quandaries of the mid-twentieth cent ury world. Pope John lists eight categories of the rights of the human person, rights "flowing directly... from his very nature...universal, inviolable and inalienable.” He has amplified the scope of each category to include important considerations never before treated so authoritatively. Under the right of life and a decent living he includes the right to social security in any case in which a man "is deprived of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own.” Among the moral and cultural rights of every human being, the Pope includes "the right to freedom in sear ching for truth and in expressing and communi cating his opinions." He singles out also the right to education, including higher studies in accordance with nat ural gifts and acquired skills. Freedom of con science and the right to worship "privately and publicly” belong to every human being. In re affirming the right to private property he points out that social duty is "essentially inherent” in the right of ownership. Finally, "the human person is entitled to juridical protection ( i.e. by law enforcement agencies) of his rights... that should be effective, impartial and inspired by the true norms of justice." (To be continued). to each impartially, whatever its milieu. Smut Advertising Good Shepherd Theme What is more tragic, however, is that some of these movies are also advertised on the radio, and in some places even on tele vision. We heard recently one radio station include such a movie commercial within the normal children's listening hour. The announcer reeled off the suggest ive commercial as if he meant what he said. Admittedly, it was for a drive-in theater, which seemed to thrive on the so-called “mature" films. There is one more point to be emphasized: movie distributors are cutting their own throats by emphasizing sex and smut in relation to their ads. We have APRIL 28 SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. The Shepherd theme of today’s Mass falls on ears tuned to the hum of traffic and the Imper sonal clatter of machines. Yet the race has memory enough to sense in this theme the notes of trust, personal care, responsibility. Christ our Priest is Saviour, yes, as we have seen. He is also shepherd, master, leader. The First Reading teaches our responsibility toward Him: "You were to follow in his foot steps.” And the Gospel shows His responsi bility towards us, even to the laying down of His life. He is Our Saviour because we have with Him the personal relationship Implied in the shepherd theme. It is by being joined to Him in faith, in Baptism, in the breaking of bread, that we know His saving work as our salvation. MONDAY, APRIL 29 ST. PETER OF VERONA, MARTYR. Nothing in the liturgy shows the trans cendent anchor of Christian hope more than the Mass of a martyr. Full of shouts of victory ath. lg physical, no atomic st, no end of Western >mic civilization, can he branches from the ily the Father, the vine- , can do that, and then we place our own tem- 'ell-being ahead of the serve. TUESDAY, APRIL 30 ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA, VIRGIN. What a lesson in responsibility for the laity in the Church is the life of this 14th century laywoman! Her Jealousy was of the divine kind (First Reading), not the selfish jealousy with which we are too familiar. So she didn’t hesitate to correct her brother when justice and charity demanded it—even her brother the Pope. "You loved justice and hated wickedness,” we sing in the Entrance Hymn. She saw them both inside and outside the Church and she reacted WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 ST. JOSEPH THE WORKMAN. Every Mass is in a sense a hymn to human work as well as a thanksgiving to God, for the gifts of thanksgiving to which Christ communicates infinite value are the human pro ducts, bread and wine. Today’s celebration spells out this profound respect the Christian must have for man's cooperation with God’s creative activity in work. That "spiritual sacrifice” to which every Christian is called by his Baptism is the of fering, direction, orientation of his whole life and being to God. His work is of unique importance in this complex of his sacrifices. THURSDAY, MAY 2 ST. ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, CONFESSOR, DOCTOR. "Speak it in the light.... preach it on the housetops” (Gospel). For molt of us our work is a, if not the, principal means of speaking and preaching the good news that the life of Jesus is "made manifest in our mortal flesh” (First Reading). Work well done, with love for things and love for the people our work SAD EFFORT Controversy In Sanity BY GERALD E. SHERRY Recently I stated that controversy in the Church is obviously a healthy thing as long as there is an objective and constructive airing of the issues. I am also of the opinion that the controversy over the banning of four-priest theologians at Catholic University served a useful purpose. It has strengthened the image and the stance of the Church of America rather than weakened it. I am equally convinced, however, that there is no longer an issue here, and that Catholic Uni versity should be left alone to pick up the pieces; and that all con cerned in tha mat ter should be chari table enough to work together to strengthen the inst itution. The "ban ning” was a bad experience, but not fatal. Catholic Uni versity is too im portant to the Church to be scuttled through irres ponsible prolonging of a dead debate. For this reason, I am rather saddened by the efforts of a group of university professors (not from Catholic U.), and an editor from one of our Catholic weekly diocesan newspapers, to drag the C.U. affair into a side issue which has absolutely no bearing on academic freedom. WHAT HAS happened is that an article appear ed in a diocesan paper several weeks ago, attempting to place the blame for the whole affair on Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, Apostolic Delegate to the United States. It was an unneces sary insinuation, because Monsignor McDonald, Rector of Catholic University, has accepted sole responsiblity for the decision to ban the four theologians. The insinuation was made in an article written by a priest of another diocese, who seemingly has had difficulty in the past in getting some of his theology accepted by those in authority. There is no question that this priest author is in good standing. Indeed, I am told he administers one of the best parishes in his particular diocese. He is a good priest, but seems to have the desire to use the Catholic University affair as a vehicle for assessing blame for his own theological diffi culties in the past. This is a sad business. I think the first article did a disservice to the thesis of "holy liberty” so eloquently expounded by Pope John XXIIL The exercise of liberty within the Church carries with it greater responsibilities than in any other area. We must always be careful that we avoid harming the good name of individuals, and that charity is to the forefront. ALAS, this same diocesan newspaper carries a front page article in its current issue, by one of its priest-editors. The article continues the same theme on Catholic U. and defends the dis gruntled priest theologian who wrote the original piece. What is further surprising, however, is that this latest piece alleges that because only a few Catholic newspapers reprinted the original article, there was official suppression of it in most Catholic newspapers. Nothing, of course, is further from the truth. I, for one, was contacted about accepting the original article. Some bright young university professor suggested that, because of my alleged liberal leanings, this was a "natural” for my paper. Hav ing seen the gist of the article, I rejected it on the grounds that I felt it was imprudent and served no useful purpose. There was no attempt at suppression, officially or otherwise. I did a check with several other Catholic "Liberal” editors and found them to be of like mind. Their bishops were not involved in their judgement. Neither was mine. THE IDEA that bishop-publishers are invol ved in every decision to print or not to print is a false one. There are some matters of policy in which the bishop has a right to be involved before something goes into print. But on most issues they expect the editor whom they have hired, be he priest or laymen, to have enough intelligence (and love of the Church) to make a prudential judgement. To my knowledge, there are only six diocesan weeklies out of some one hundred and twenty, in which the bishop keeps a tight, personal rein on its contents, especially editorials and controversial issues. The priest editor who wrote this latest article is obviously out to make a martyr of himself. That is his privilege. But in doing so, he is giving the impression that his colleagues in the Catholic press are either cowards or unable to emulate him because of official suppression. It is stupid impression and an unworthy imputat ion. MANY OF us thrive on controversy. We are not afraid to speak our minds, and in this we have the healthy support of our bishop-publish ers. But we are expected to deal in issues, avoiding personalities unless it is impossible to do otherwise. Personal grudges have no place in an issue such as that of the C.U. ban. Certainly an alleged injustice to a priest theologian, years ago, has no bearing on the present issue. All in all, these two articles which have appear ed in this diocesan weekly have probably endang ered "holy liberty”, especially in relation to editors of diocesan weeklies. If W e cannot show responsibility, how can we possibly be given it? Times are too serious for any of us to perpet uate personal grudges. We have had our say on the Catholic U. affair. We should now all be working together to help that institution to regain the confidence of all who support it either financially, or through prayer. REAPINGS AT RANDOM