The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, July 04, 1963, Image 4

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The Georgia bulletin, July 04, 1963, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1963 OUR TV FARE the Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA BULLETIN atMBf* 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 Member of the Catholic Press Association and Subscriber to N.C.W.C. News Service Telephone 231-1281 2699 Peachtree N.E P.O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta 5, Ga. Second Class Permit at Decatur, Georgia U.S.A. $5.00 Canada $5.50 Foreign $6.50 Movie Ratings The Legion of Decency ratings came in for criticism from one of our readers in recent cor respondence to this office. It was suggested that the Legion was too severe and so was the whole Catholic approach to “Prior re straint” in relation to movie jud gments. Great care is exercised by the Legion of Decency before moral or other objections are placed against any movie. Many Ch urch officials advocate “Prior restraint” because, short of cen sorship, this is the only way the viewing public is protected. There are some films which have a decidedly low moral tone throughout, and tend to minimize or "ignore the m oral obligations of the characters portrayed. In some instances, films treat in terms of morbid sensational ism such things as sex and nar cotic addiction. And in so doing they fail to avoid the harmful implications relative to these moral and sociological problems. In addition many of these type films have suggestive costuming, dialogue and situations. Under these conditions, as in any other concerning the censor ship of movies, the primary question is one of “Prior re straint.” Shall we stop the film being shown to the public until objectionable material has been deleted or shall we wait until such material has been allowed to sow seeds of decaying in fluences among our people, especially the young. It is as simple as that. What is more, the only people opposing prior restraint in film censorship are those with vested interest in the movie industry, and the secular ists. The movie industry has a right to protect its investment, but it also has the duty to protect the general public from immoral influences. If this was taken into consideration bythose responsi ble for the production of films, there would be little necessity for prior restraint or censor ship in general. But we live in a society where a fast buck is more important than a clean soul. Hence, if the movie indus try will not do it, we have to look to regulation to protect our selves, and our children. Don’t Hitchhike! Vacation time increases the number of cars on the road and also the number of hitchhikers. Hitchhiking is a growing disease in America, aided by a false “help your buddy” idea or the urge to help weary looking people along the way. But often, in stead of giving assistance, the motorist receives trouble from the hitchhiker. That this is a national problem has been illus trated by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in a recent article con demning hitchhiking. There are two great dangers in hitchhiking. The first applies to the motorist. As Mr. Hoover pointed out, the facts show that motorists who pick up hitchhikers have been the victims of a great number of robberies, assaults and even murders. it. The facts also show that hit chhikers are easily a prey for mentally sick people who often will offer rides to prospective victims. Hitchhiking is a dangerous bus iness. Mr. Hoover has given the sad facts involved and urges people to guard against hitch hikers and hitchhiking. Let every parent think about the dangers of hitching a ride, instead of look ing the other way as their children hitchhike. Let every motorist be wise and consider his or her own safety first before picking up a hitchhiker. The ex tra steps the hitchhiker has to walk may save the motorist a great deal ofunnecessary trou ble. ALL HANDS WELCOME - DIRTY OR NOT COMPLICATIONS Race Problem Complex BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW The problem of racial relations in the United States has reached a new level of complication. The present situation differs in form, if not In substance, from the essentially abnormal and violent condition to which we had grown accus tomed. To minds distracted by cold war and sin gle and tandem earth orbiting, the change seems sudden and drastic. It causes very practical, conscientious and intellectual, difficulties to that sizable if somewhat inarticulate, group of southern whites who style themselves moderates. Like it or not, the just out come of struggle for racial jus tice and personal dignity for the Negro depends on their con tinued goodwill and understand ing. If there be anyone who doubts that good will or the en ergy that has gone into its ac hievement, than he is ignorant not only of the South but of the truth that there must be a cause proportionate to any given effect. The ex tremist Governors of Alabama and Mississippi and the Black Muslims also are hors de combat. They play no meaningful role except as symp toms in the actual history of the struggle. On the other hand, for one Ralph McGill there are a million southerners who have passed from salving their consciences with a gift of old clothes to their maids to a real desire for justice. It is upon these people of good will that we must call for reflection and continued honesty. THE PACE of the struggle for Negro equa lity has changed very dramatically. Until recently, the strategy was to single out a particular area and concentrate all efforts within it. For years, most of the effort was expended on the public and tax-supported schools and public tran sportation; a campaign for voting rights followed and then in turn came, the struggle for dese gregation of privately owned but essentially public facilities.The technique employed by those fighting for Negro rights has also undergone a change. In previous years maximum energy was ex pended in the courts, where lengthy litigation achieved gradual but steady and solid progress. The tone of the Negro leadership was calm, al most to the point of being professorial, in its appeals to the conscience and intelligence of the American public. All of this seems to have changed in recent months. The Negro no longer asks, but demands, his rights by a variety of techniques, inlcuding public demonstrations, and he does so on a number of fronts at once. At such a juncture as this, it is imperative that the white citizens who have been sympathetic with the Negro’s struggle take note of a very important point. The Negro’s goal remains the same as it has always been - equality with every other group in the exercise of those rights which are the concern of public justice: education, voting, housing, employment, etc. If there are some who disagree about the prudence of the means recently adopted in the struggle, they must not allow that secondary disagreement to obs cure their primary conviction about the absolute rightness of the Negro’s aims, whether judged by human or divine law. White moderates need to recognize the almost inevitable swing of the pendulum, especially among younger and better educated Negroes, after generations of intolerance and oppression. Honestly answered, the question "How patient would I be, if I were a Negro?*’ should sober any wavering convictions of any reasonable man who dares call himself moderate. The Negro leadership, in determining its tactics, must also face certain hard facts. Any legal or juridical change also brings about a social change. Society is all of a piece and changes only a step at a time. Only acceptance by the sane segment of society will make whatever legal progress is achieved stable and permanent. The legitimate concerns of the majority of white Americans, who are in sympathy with the Negro's aims, must be studied and given consideration, if progress is to be made and maintained. LITURGICAL WEEK Our Unity In Worship Together Of course not ail hitchhikers are criminals or wrongdoers. But the question is, how can the mot orist reliably determine the ch aracter of the hitchhikers? The quick glance which the motorist gets of the hitchhiker certainly is no criterion. Mr. Hoover ex plicitly state s that the re is no such a thing as placing a person in a criminal type just by looking at him. The second danger pertains to the hitchhiker. This is especially true among teenage boys who fail to see anything wrong with hitch hiking a ride and who enjoy doing BY FR. ROBERT W. HOVDA Priest of the Pittsburgh Oratory) JULY 7, FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTE COST. The theme of today’s Mass is one which must penetrate our hearts before we can possi bly understand which the Church intends by the reform and renewal of her public worship. The 1958 Instruction of the Holy See on universal partici pation at Mass is still not obey ed in many places because it has never been understood. We see the key today in the emphasis on the horizontal in worship, on our love of one another, our unity with one another, in worship. Catholic worship can never be understood in terms of the vertical alone, and yet this is what we have tried and are still trying to do. We learn that the Mass is a sacrifice, but we do not learn that it is a sacrifical banquet. We learn that we must love God (Collect), but we do not learn that we must love Him as Church, as community, not just as Individuals, and that we love Him in our love for one another (First Reading and Gospel). MONDAY, JULY 8, ST. ELIZABETH, QUEEN, WIDOW. Each of the Masses of the "sanctoral cycle," commemorating a saint, is an example of this horizontal emphasis in the liturgy. If we stop to think of it, we really cannot blame non- Catholics too much for accusing us of supersti tion and of tendencies of idolatry and polytheism. The cult of the saints makes sense only in the context of a real and genuine and loving cult of our brothers. If we reject our brothers, parti cularly by rejecting congregational participation in our public worship, we should logically reject the cult of the saints, and make our worship really vertical. TUESDAY, JULY 9, MASS AS ON SUNDAY. "Be reconciled with thy brother first...’’ (Gos pel). For this reconciliation in our hearts is a sine qua non,-if the liturgical words and signs of reconciliation at Mass are not to be hypocri tical and meaningless. Singing and praying to gether at Mass, sharing the holy Food as a visi ble, brotherly meal—these are signs telling us that the Christian cannot love God except in lov ing his brothers. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, THE SEVEN BRO THERS, MARTYRS, AND SS. RUFINA AND SE- CUNDA, VIRGINS, MARTYRS. "Here was true brotherliness,*’ we sing in the Alleluia before the Gospel. Thse ancient martyrs are among our brethren, as is Christ Himself in His hu manity. "Whoever does the will of my Father ...is my brother and sister and mother" (Gos pel, Communion Hymn). Jesus unites horizontal and vertical in our worship. As mediator He leads us to the Father, as second Adam He re conciles us with one another. THURSDAY, JULY 11, MASS AS ON SUNDAY. The "one favor*’ which our Communion Hymn today asks is to dwell "in the Lord’s house" —that is, among our brothers, in the Church, in the holy community. Not in isolation, as the my stics of all religions, but in communion as a Christian. For Christ adds to all that is good in mysticism a newly-essential dimension: that we love one another. FRIDAY, JULY 12, ST. JOHN GUALBERT, ABBOT. TTiat this dimension is without limits is the clear teaching of today’s Gospel. Our horizon tal arms, like those of the Cross, must be capa ble of embracing the whole race of men. Open, undiscriminating, so without regard for self (whether "self" is understood in an individual, family, national or church sense) that "enemy” is not excluded. This is the perfection to which all of us are called. Saturday, july 13, st. mary on Satur day. No matter how Individualistic we have be come in our public worship, no matter how little sense of community we show at Sunday Mass, the place of Our Lady in Catholic piety continual ly recalls us to a saner, healthier, more Chris tian attitude. "My roots spread out among the peo ple that enjoys his favor" (First Reading). "Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and keep it" (Gospel). Wasteland Adventures BY GERARD E. SHERRY Let’s face it! Much of our TV programming is a complete waste of time. Despite all the con gressional investigations, the expressions of alarm or disgust from churchmen and educators, the general area of television programming is empty and shallow. These thoughts struck me the other night when someone at our house switched on Perry Mason. Now, I have no real objection to the law yer sleuth. Indeed, he seems a genuine, clean-cut California attorney-at-law. You know what I mean - all business and dedication. They never make any money. One night, Perry told his client that the 38 cents change she had in her purse ( it was all the money she had in the world) was all he needed to take her case. It is enough to make you feel very proud of our legal profession. All the more so when you come to realize that Perry spares no expense in sav ing his clients from the chair or gallows. Apart from Paul Drake, die private eye, who appears to be on a handsome retainer with the Mason outfit, there are dozens of characters all over the world ready to go to bat for the poor defen dant. REAPINGS AT RANDOM This explains, of course, why that district attorney, Mr. Berger, always loses against Perry. The cards are stacked against him from the opening scenes. First, there is the fact that Perry has never lost a case - at least not on the TV screen. Then, there is the judge. In each case he is obviously hostile to the prose cutor. Third, that fellow Lieutenant Tragg, is al ways goofing up the crucial evidence. Frankly, if I was Mr. Berger, I would have learnt my les son long ago - I would have quit the show. Life cannot be that bad. Perry has to lose at least once. But when? I was especially touched by a concluding scene. The defendant had been saved from the chair (surprise! surprise!) and love had found a way. Don’t ask the silly question as to how love ever entered the case - it just did. And it is too in volved to go into here. The other program that seems to really touch the heart of America is the one concerning Dr. Kildare. Or is it Ben Casey? It doesn’t matter. It’s basically the same plot; dedicated doctors who save people’s lives every day in operating rooms. There are no fees charged, and our heroes never sleep, eat, or waver in their de termination to diagnose an incurable ailment which only they can cope with. These TV doctors don’t seem to have any family life, whatsoever. They report home to their mothers, or wives, and children, occasionally to let them know that another life has been saved through the receipt by plane or sled of an al most unobtainable drug or plasma. Actually, the hospitals that Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey service are terrific. Nobody ever flaps. Nurses, doc tors, cooks, cashiers and receptionists all have a personal interest in the patients awaiting the knife. There is never any doubt as to the out come, no matter how far gone is the patient. You name the worst complaint that you can have and inevitably you will bump into Kildare or Casey. You’re their specialty. Simple operations are much too dull. And anyhow - there are no simple operations. Just think, - you’re all set to take out a child’s tonsils and suddenly all kinds of complications set in. What does the average doc tor do? As if you didn’t know. Call Dr. Kildare, of course. If he is too busy getting advice from Gillespie, then try Ben Casey. Casey, by the way, is a much better doctor. He once got a TV Guide Emmy Award. The point is that such programs do not reflect reality. They give a false impression to immature youngsters and tranquilize a growing group of TV Zombies. There are good and bad lawyers. Not all defendants at murder trials are inno cent. Not all defense lawyers get you off a capi tal charge. Furthermore, few real life district attorneys are as dumb as Mr. Berger. Finally, if our police forces had real life investigators of Lieutenant Tragg’s calibre, then we might as well call in the FBI at the outset. And one last word of caution about lawyers - unless you are already a charity case their fees can soon make you one. Kildare and Casey do not reflect the medical profession in real life. Doctors are human like the rest of us. They have all the faults and fail ings of the rest of humanity. They are no less virtuous than the rest of us. They try as hard as any other man. But, let’s face it. They do charge fees, do lose patients; much of their work is dull, routine stuff. They do have families. They do smile, and they do get home for dinner. Why, some even go on strike! Did you think that Kil dare and Casey would stoop so low? Of course not! They’re just insufferable bores. Let’s have some real life material - even if it hurts our ego. Let Perry lose several cases - give Mr. Berger a break, and save Tragg from being sent to pound a beat. Let’s see Kildare and Casey split a fee. Have them tell a patient that there is no hope - the only thing left is prayer. I think people would enjoy TV and its characters if they could see themselves not the phonies.