Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 1 NO. 34
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1963
$5.00 PER YEAR
rchdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA'S
NORTHERN
COUNTIES
A RELIGION AND READING workshop was held this week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)
at St. Pius X High School for the benefit of teachers in the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese.
Pictured here are, left to right, Sister Mary Severine, C. S, J„ Superintendent, Archdiocese of
Atlanta; Sister Mary Jerome, 0, S, F, , Community Superintendent, Diocese of Pittsburgh; Sister
Mary Frederick. 0. S, F„ Religion Committee, Our Life With God Series.
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
Charleston’s C atholic
Schools Are Integrating
DY GERARD E. SHERRY
FROM THAILAND comes this
unique statue of Our Lady re
flecting the Thai culture. In the
Diocese of Ratburi, Salesian
Bishop Peter M, Carretto, S,
D.B., has been able to establish
Mother and Child Clinics, aid
ed by grants from the Madonna-
Plan of the U. S. National Coun
cil of Catholic Women and Ca
tholic Relief Services of the Na
tional Catholic Welfare Confer
ence.
Unless present day students
grow up in Christ, social ac
tion, liturgical change, and ecu
menism will only be half met,
Archbishop Paui J. Hallinan
told the Archdiocesan Elemen
tary School Teachers’ Work
shop on Monday.
'Hie Workshop, which was
held at Saint Pius X High School,
drew religious and la> teach
ers from all over the diocese.
It also had guest speakers who
are experts in various phases
of education.
EXTRACTS from the Arch
bishop’s keynote talk follow;
"The task of the teacher of
religion is prior to, and fun
damental to, the whole renewal
Chaplain Named
NEW YORK, Aug. 22 (NC)
—Msgr. (Rear Adm.) George
A. Rosso, former Chief of Navy
Chaplains, has been named pas
tor oi the Church of St. Thomas
of Canterbury, Cornwall-on-
Hudson.
Msgr. Rosso retired June
30 after 25 years as a Navy
chaplain. From 1958 until his
retirement he was chief of chap-
la mu.
WASHINGTON, (NC) —Equal
employment opportunity is the
"Master key” to the nation’s
race problem, the Social Action
Department of the National Cat
holic Welfare Conference says.
The Social Action Depart
ment’s 1963 Labor Day state
ment says the "ultimate suc
cess” of racial justice efforts
largely depends on implement
ing "a universal policy of equal
employment opportunity for
Negro workers in every in
dustry and trade.”
"THE EFFECTIVE exercise
of many of the Negro's other
basic human rights will depend
. . .on whether or not he is
given an equal opportunity to
develop his native skills and tal
ents and to secure gainful and
suitable employment on his own
merits and without regard to the
in liturgy, the ecumenical
movement, and the entire pro
gram of Christian social action.
Unless this new generation of
students, who are your present
charge, grow up in Christ, the
liturgical changes will be only
external novelties; ecumenism
will be only a gesture of good
will; and our social action will
be based on nothing but natural
expediency.
"Second, the revitalization of
religion-teaching is not just a
matter of method. It Is a mat
ter of meaning. New techniques
and textbooks come and go in
the trade; it is the depth that
counts. The terms - man, re
ligion, God, faith, grace, Christ,
—must be grasped as some
thing more than concepts. They
must, in the mind of the child
and older student, denote reali
ty. Our classroom exchanges
over the fact of the incarnation,
the fact of salvation and grace,
must be exercised in existential
living, not just in memorized
conceptualization.
"FINALLY the key to success
ful religion-teaching is Christ,
the Head of the Body of which
we are the members, the cen
ter of all Christian life. The
source is the Bible, the evan-
gelium, the good news, the mes
sage and fact of salvation.**
color of his skin,” the state
ment says.
The Social Action Depart
ment, whose director is Msgr.
George G. Higgins, calls on
trade unions, employers and
government to take immediate
action to guarantee equal job
opportunities for Negroes and
other minorities.
WHILE RECENTmonthshave
seen "limited steps” in this
area, it says, labor, manage
ment and government have so
far "hardly scratched the sur
face of the total problem.”
"Much more can and should
be done. . .to protect the basic
rights not only of the Negroes,
but of Mexican Americans, Pue
rto Ricans, American Indians,
people of Asian background, and
the members of other minority
groups who, in varying degrees,
are the victims of prejudice
and discrimination,” the state
ment declares.
The NCWCdepartmentmakes
these recommendations on eq
ual employment opportunity:
—TRADE UNIONS. While
there are no longer any unions
which "a number of key unions”
in practice exclude Negroes
by making it "extremely diffi
cult, if not impossible, for them
to qualify for membership.”
While calling on union lea
ders to take steps to remedy
these conditions, the Social Act
ion Department at the same time
stresses the need for rank-and
-file efforts on behalf of racial
justice. It also reminds Negro
workers that they can help re
medy abuses "by playing an
increasingly active role in the
trade union movement.”
—EMPLOYERS. The state
ment declares that "Christian
moral teaching requires every
employer to maintain and en
force nondiscriminatory poli
cies in hiring, upgrading and
discharge.”
The statement says employ
ers "are in a position to do
more than almost any other se
gment of the American popula
tion to promote the cause of
interracial justice.”
—GOVERNMENT. The So
cial Action Department says
there is "urgent need” for a
permanent Federal Fair Em
ployment Practices Committee
with wide jurisdiction and the
power to enforce sanctions. It
also recommends the establish
ment of similar state commit
tees.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (NC)—
Integration of Catholic schools
in the Charleston area will take
place at the end of August, a
year ahead of schedule, Bishop
Francis F. Reh has announced.
The Bishop of Charleston said
in a statement (Aug. 23) that
the date was advanced from
September, 1964, in view of a
recent Federal district court
order calling for desegregation
of public school district 20 in
Charleston.
BISHOP Reh said that "be
cause of the new circumstances
which will now exist in Char
leston as a result of the court
decision, attention had to be
given to the proviso” of a
1961 pastoral letter of the dio
cese that stated: "Catholic pu
pils, regardless of color, will
be admitted to Catholic schools
as soon as this can be done
with safety to the children and
the schools. Certainly, this will
be done not later than the pub
lic schools are open to all pu
pils.”
"Accordingly, the admission
policy of the Catholic schools
in the Charleston area is now
as follows: Greater Charles
ton is divided into 10 terri
torial parishes. While the chur
ches of these territorial pari
shes have been open to all,
regardless of color, there are
two other parishes which pri
marily serve the Negro Cath
olics of the area.”
"AS OF September, 1963, Ca
tholic Negro elementary stu
dents who belong to these two
special parishes have a choice
of attending either the school
which is operated by these pa
rishes or the school of the ter
ritorial parish in which they
reside.”
The two "special parishes”
referred to, St. Peter’s and
Our Lady of Mercy, are attend
ed primarily by Negro Ca
tholics. The parishes operated
Immaculate Conception school,
which has 407 Negro children,
202 of them Catholics. These
children now may attend either
Immaculate Conception Ele
mentary School or the school
of the territorial parish in which
they reside.
There are nine schools for
the 10 territorial parishes, in
cluding Immaculate Conception,
and they have had a total en
rollment of 3,200 students.
"NEGRO Catholic elemen
tary students who desire to at
tend the school of the terri
torial parish in which they re
side are to make their inten
tions known through their pas
tors,” Bishop Reh said. "This
must be done in time for re
gistration, which is scheduled
in all parochial schools August
29 and 30.”
In regard to high school in
tegration, Bishop Reh said
"...because Bishop England
High School ( a local central
high school) is not only filled
to capacity but cannot even
accommodate even a number of
students who have already ap
plied, it will be impossible, un
fortunately, to accept Catholic
Negro high school students un
til September, 1964.”
Bishop Reh has also request
ed that prayers for racial peace
be recited in the Charleston
diocese at Masses on Sundays
and holy days. He asked that
the Divine Praises be said after
the Gospel until further notice,
and that the prayers be pre
ceded each time by this an
nouncement: "Let us pray for
racial peace based on justice
and love for all men.”
SCHOOL integration will also
go into effect this September
in all Catholic schools of the
Diocese of Savannah, Ga. An
nouncement of this was made
in June by Bishop Thomas J.
McDonough of Savannah.
The past July, Bishop Robert
Emmett Tracy of Baton Rouge,
La., said that four Catholic high
schools in the diocese would be
integrated in September, 1964,
as the "initial step” toward
desegregation of all Catholic in
stitutions in the diocese.
DAYTON, Ohio (NC)—Arch
bishop Karl J. Alter of Cincin
nati urged here that Catholics
make clear their dedication to
religious liberty as a step to
ward improving relations
among churches in the U. S.
Citing non-Catholic suspi
cions of Catholic intentions on
the score of religious liberty,
Archbishop Alter said it is
"important that we eliminate
this particular obstacle to bet
ter relations between oursel
ves and others in this pluralis
tic society'.”
THE Archbishop spoke at a
luncheon during the seventh an
nual convention of the National
Catholic Social Action Confer
ence, held at the University of
Dayton. Some 300 delegates
"Hoodlum Priest’
Requiem Mass
ST. LOUIS (NC)—A Requiem
Mass was offered here for Fa
ther Charles Dismas Clark, S.
J., known national^ for his re
habilitation work with ex-con
victs.
The 62-year-old Jesuit
priest, subject of a movie*
called "The Hoodlum Priest,”
died of a heart attack last week
at St. Mar>’s Hospital after a
three-week illness.
HE SOUGHT medical care
Jie day following the execution
(July 28) of Sammy Tucker,
convicted of murder, in whose
behalf he had interceded. As
sociates at Dismas House said
Father Clark was exhausted
from his efforts to get a stay
of execution for Tucker.
WASHINGTON, D. C. -Yes
terday's March on Washington
has its roots deep in our cul
ture and tradition. Its historic
development can be traced to the
men who stood on the field of
Runnymede and whose Magna
Charta established forever our
right to petition.
This Indeed was the salient
point for the almost 150,000
persons of all races, colors,
and creeds who marched nine
blocks from the Washington
Monument to the Lincoln Me
morial, in order that steps be
taken to redress old grievances
and to help resolve an American
crisis.
ATLANTA was represented
by several hundred persons,
including Dr. Martin Luther
King, a leader of the March and
president of the Southern Lea
dership Conference, and Dr.
Be jamin E. Mays, president
of Morehouse College. It was
estimated that some 2,000
Georgians were in the parade.
Catholics were prominent
among the many religious
groups participating in the Mar
ch, including two archbishops,
five bishops, and several hun-
dre d priests, nuns, seminar
ians, and other Religious.
THERE WAS no inter-faith
rivalry as banners carried by
whites and Negroes proclaimed
"Catholics, Jews, and Protest-
from throughout the country
attended.
Archbishop Alter noted the
presence on the convention pro
gram of the Church-State issue
and commended the NCSAC for
its interest in the subject.
He described the Church-
State problem as a "source of
fear which leads to dissension
in our pluralistic society.”
SPECIFICALLY, he said,
non-Catholics are afraid that
a Catholic majority would use
the power of government to
"restrict the liberty of other
groups” to practice their re
ligion.
In considering the Church-
State issue, he said, there must
be a clear recognition that in the
American system government
is a "limited government.”
One of the "distinctive cha
racteristics” of the American
system is "a denial of compe
tence to the government in the
field of religion,” he said.
ARCHBISHOP Alter said
there is need for a "clear dis
tinction” between society and
the State, and a recognition
that "society's rights and du
ties and government’s rights
and duties” are not the same.
He cited pronouncements by
the late Pope Pius XII and
Pope John XXIII as sanction
for a Catholic doctrine of re
ligious freedom. The basis of
this doctrine, he said, is that
"religious freedom (is) inhe
rent in the individual.”
A workshop session on
Church and State was held la
ter during the convention.
ants March for Freedom from
Hate and Prejudice.”
The religious overtones
through the March were further
emphasized when the culmi
nation rally at the Lincoln Me
morial started with an invoca
tion by Archbishop Patrick A.
Boyle of Washington, and end
ed with a benediction by Dr.
Mays.
COINCIDENTALLY, the fe
asts of two African Saints were
observed by the Church yester
day. These were St. Augustine
of Hippo, and St. Moses the
Black, a co-worker of St. Be
nedict. Special Masses were
scheduled at the six major ch
urches in downtown Washington
to cater to the vast in) lux of
visitors to the Nation’sCaptial.
Officials here pulled out all
the stops to accommodate and
facilitate the peaceful intents
of the marchers. There were
no disorders, even though a
member of the American Nazi
Party was arrested while a -
tempting to create one. In au
dition, Lincoln Rockwell, leader
of the American Nazi Party,
carried out his vow to appear
on the scene with a group of
followers. Police surveillance
prevented any counter rally.
MATTHEW AHMANN, exec
utive director of the National
Catholic Conference for Interr
acial Justice, was one of the
main speakers at the Lincoln
Memorial Rally. He told the vast
throng that "The wind of the
racial revolution has finally
bent the reed of the conscie
nce of our people.”
He added: "Never before has)
the direction we must take been
so clear, yet many bend be
fore the w inds of justice in con
fusion. The balance yet lies in
the silent and fearful American.
It is he who sees the direction
of the future dimly before his
conscience; who must act if a
wholesome, integrated commu
nity for White and Negro Amer
icans is to be built without vio
lence and without rending this
country’s spirit.
"WE ARE gathered, too,
to dedicate ourselves to build
ing a people, a nation, a world
which is free of the sin of dis
crimination based on color,
race, creed, or national origin;
a world of the sonsof Godwhu h
in all aspects will be a world
dedicated to justice and to bonds
fraternal.”
In his invocation, Archbishop
O’Boyle implored;
"Bless this nation and all its
people. May the warmth of "lour
love replace the coldness that
springs from prejudice and bit
terness. Send in our midst the
Holy Spirit to open the eves
of all to the great trudi that
all men are equal m Your sight.
Let us understand that simple
justice demands that the rights
of all be honored by every man.
We ask a special blessing for
those men and women who have-
been leaders in the struggle for
justice and harmony among the
races. As Moses of old, they
have gone before their people
to a land of promise. Let that
promise quickly become a rea
lity, so that the ideals of free
dom. blessed alike by our re
ligious faith and our heritage
of Democracy will prevail in
our land.”
MR. AND MRS. A. D. GlY of St. Anthorn ’s Parish, Atlanta,
recently held a reunion which was attended by 41 members
of their family. Mr. and Mrs. Guv (cneter, second row)
were joined bv their sons and daughters, Andrew J. and
Charles F. Gu\ oi Adnata. Edward F. Cu\ of Belvedere,
S. C., Sister M. Juliene, Omaha, Nebr., Mrs. Dennis Sieber,
Havre de Grace, Md., Mr. Joseph F. Guy, Tampa. In addi
tion there were 5 iji-laws and 27 grandchildren. Sister M.
Julienne is an Ursuline and teaches at Blesses Sacrament
School, Omaha.
ARCHBISHOP TO TEACHERS
Students Must
Grow In Christ
MUST CONVINCE OTHERS
Catholics Support
Religious
SERVING
NC.WC STATEMENT
ALSO PRIESTS, NUNS
PRAY FOR
CHRISTIAN
UNITY
Bishops Join
D.C. March
Job Equality
Is Vital Need