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— PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY diocese of Atlanta GEORGIA'S NORTHERN COUNTIES VOL. 1 NO. 37 ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1963 $5.00 PER YEAR CHILDRENS DEATH ■Ti II- • T, f 4 , H| i v; 1 1 „ "l HM*- fc * ■ * ■ True 6 Slaughter Of Innocents’ Is Vatican Label THE UNIVERSITY of Notre Dame opened the doors of its new 13-story, $8 million library, believed to be the largest college library building in the world. To be used by students and faculty members, the building has a capacity of two mil lion books and can seat nearly half of the school's 6,700 students at one time. POPE ASKS Prayer, Penance For The Council VATICAN CITY (NC)— An appeal to encourage prayer and penance for a happy outcome of the ecumenical council has been made by Pope Paul VI in an Apostolic Exhortation to the world's Catholic Bishops. After noting the paramount importance of the council for the Church, Pope Paul said that he places his trust first of all in the help of the Lord and then in the prayers of the faithful. He therefore asked that every bishop take measures to see that his faithful are spiritually pre pared for the great event. HE WROTE: "We are cer tain, Venerable Brothers, that it is above all upon this effort of prayer and Christian penance that the hope for the abundant spiritual harvest of the council will depend, for it is first of all a work of the Holy Spirit. All that is humanly possible must be done to prepare for the council. However, neither the ordered assembly of the council, nor the penetrating power of the debates, nor the studies diligently prepared by the council Fathers which will have the most important part in the council—none of these will produce the fully and stab ly determined purposes of the council, but only long and at tentive prayer, corporal and spiritual mortification offered to God, and holiness of customs and pious works." POPE PAUL recommended especially the prayer written by Pope John Will for the success of the council, and he recomme nded that the Collect prayer to the Holy Spirit be ordered in serted in all the Masses of the Latin Rite (oratio imperata). He urged also that priests, se minarians and members of re ligious institutes take the lead in his call for special prayer and penance. On penance he wrote "We paternally exhort all that in the Coming Rogation Days each vol untarily observe the fast, ac cording to his own strength, even though it is not commended b\ ecclesiastical authority. The Pope then urged the fait hful to give their assistance to Christian charities, as aform of the good works to be offered for the success of the council, naming especially those that help the poor and the sick. "MAY THE faithful willingly perform other voluntary mor tifications, especially abstain ing from certain entertainments which too often are immoral and censurable. . . let them pardon offenses received. Aspontane- ous pardon extinguishes the tr agic flames of discords in such a way as to silence hatreds and quarrels which today un fortunately are so widespread as to generate new disasters and often provoke irritated minds to the spilling of their brothers' blood," VATICAN CITY, (NC)—The Vatican City daily has called the killing of four Negro girls by a bomb thrown into a Birming ham, Ala., church a "true slaughter of innocents "by "ra cist insanity." L'Osservatore Romano, how ever, said that the incident will bring victory "in the Just battle for integration" in the U.S. The newspaper's comments appeared in italics above its account of the Alabama bomb ing. THE DYNAMITING took place Sept. 15 at the 16th Street Bap tist Church. In addition to kill ing the four girls, it injured 14 members of the congrega tion and wrecked the church building. The incident, which touched off riots in Birming ham in which a Negro youth was killed by police gunfire, occurred five days after the integration of three previous ly all-white city schools. L'Osservatore Romano de clared: "A sense of dismay over whelms us at the news—the incredible news—of a true slaughter of innocents in an American church by the racist insanity of some fanatical ad herents of segregation. "THE MANNER, the place and the victims of the crime— a crime whose cynical brutality cannot be diminished by any ideological pretext—cry out in condemnation of blind im passioned hatred. But still high er rises our abomination for this closed and lacerating con ception of human life together, a conception that absurdly re fuses equality and brotherhood with other men as it is dic tated by divine law and writ ten in the very law of nature. ‘The noble American nation, committed by its highest autho rities to combatting the ru- Official As we return to Rome for the Second Session of the Vatican Council, the bishops of the world are eager to appraise the new mood in the Church, We learned to love Pope John as a spiritual Father, and as a courageous leader. We know of the new Pope through his brilliant career, and his recent words and actions as Pope, but I think most of the bishops recall him best for the day in December, 1962, when he addressed us, and expressed his own hopes for the Council. Now he is our head, and we return to work with him in the great renewal. Although the liturgical principles are established, the great Issues lie ahead - religious liberty, relation of Pope and bishops, the question of unity, and the role of the laymen. Through my column in The Georgia Bulletin, I will interpret the Council's movementin the weeks ahead. Although the seal of secrecy covers all concilia, schemata, and addresses, it will be possible to give our people a fairly good indication of the progress. ARCHBISHOP OF ATLANTA ROCHESTER, N. Y. (NC)— The superior at the 12-year-old Trappist monastery in Piffard, N. Y„ will return to the mo ther abbey in Gethsemane, Ky. because of ill health. Father Walter Helmstetter, 41, super ior at the monastery since 1956, is being succeeded by Father Regis Tompkins. inous> error of segregation, will draw from today's bloody misdeed an irresistible drive to conquer and prevail in the just battle for integration. ‘TODAY'S MOST recent vie-, tims—these suspecting girls who offer their martyred flesh to God—demand it. So does the honor of the state and, above all, so does Christ's command, widely lived and felt by the American nation. "Just yesterday the words of His Holiness Pope Paul VI in vited the world, in an expia tory and imploring manner, to pray, love and forgive for the good of the ecumenical coun cil. May, therefore, an embrace among men of different color but the same nature, men made brothers in Christ the Re deemer, be a peerless act of offering for the good of a re conciled humanity. And may it be of comfort to a world which, does not despair of the progress of civilization, however and whatever may be the particular problems of life together." IN BIRMINGHAM PRIEST REPORTS MR. AND MRS. ANDREW Fischer of Aberdeen, S.D., shown here, are the parents of quintuplets, four girls and a boy. The couple have five other children in addition to the new arrivals. Oct. 14 will be "Fischer Quintuplets Day" in Aberdeen. Local, National Churches, Leaders, Condemn Bombing Trappist Change At Piffard Catholic leaders in Alabama and throughput the nation voiced grief and outrage at the bomb ing of a Birmingham Negro church that took the lives of four young girls. Archbishop Thomas J. Too len, Bishop of Mobile-BirmIng ham; said: "Truly we must all get down on our knees and in deep humility and contri tion ask God for forgiveness for those who did this shameful act and also plead with God that we may have greater love for our fellow man." "IT IS difficult to understand how a civilized human being could have in his heart so much hatred for a fellow human being as to desire or want to des- trou life because a man's color is different from his own," Archbishop Toolen said. The Archbishop’s comments were contained in a pastoral letter to be read in all churches of the diocese on September 22, one week after the bomb* ing of the Sixteenth Baptist church in Birmingham. ARCHBISHOP Toolen made a donation to aid the families of the four young victims. He also encouraged Catholics to contribute to this cause. In his letter he said that "Love thy neighbor as thyself seems to be a forgotten law in the State of Alabama." "We are much ashamed be fore the world because of the lawlessness of our state and its people," he continued. "I AM SURE nor one desires or wants these acts of destruc tion of life and property, yet these acts go on," he said. "Our law enforcement offi cers are much overworked. But does this fact justify so many bombings with no one found ac countable for these lawless acts? Are we making all the efforts that we should to find the criminals? "IF OUR efforts are not suf ficient, then extraordinary means must be taken that just ice may be done." Archbishop Toolen said Bir mingham is "slowly being des troyed" by the violence there. "It behooves every decent ci tizen to do his part in bring ing to justice those guilty kill ing and destroying," hedeclar- - ed. HE CALLED on parents "to bring their teenagers under pa rental control, to know where they are and what they are doing." "If there are any of our Ca tholic people with hatred in their hearts for their Negro nreth- ren—and I pary God that there CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 OUR LADY’S ASSOCIATION Special Education Expert To Speak A member of President Ken nedy's panel on Mental Retar dation will be the featured spea ker at a program sponsored by Our Lady's Association for Ex ceptional Children at the Dink ier Plaza Hotel on October 4 at 8:00 P.M. He is Msgr. Elmer H. Behr- mann of St. Louis, associate secretary of the special edu cation department of the Natio nal Catholic Educational Asso ciation. ALL PARENTS of mentally Ireland Has New Primate ARMAGH, Ireland, (NC)-- President Eamon de Valera and Prime Minister Sean F. Lamass sent congratulatory messages to newly named Archbishop Wil liam Conway of Armagh, Pri mate of All Ireland. Archbishop Conway, 50, who was Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General of Armagh at the time of his appointment, succeeds the late John Cardinal D’Alton, who died in Dublin on Feb ruary 1. handicapped children, and those interested in special education, are cordially invited and urged to attend. Msgr. Behrmann earned his masters and doctorate degrees at St. Louis University in the fields of education and psycho logy. He founded the Depart ment of Special Education, Ar chdiocese of St. Louis, in 1951, a remedial reading program, speech clinic and guidance pro gram in the department in 1951; and St. Mary’s Special School in St. Louis in 1952. IN 1952 he was selected by the U. S. Government to study the program of mental retardation in Denmark and Sweden. Among the professional associations of which Msgr. Be hrmann is a member are: The American Association on Men tal Deficiency, The American Catholic Psychological Associ ation, The Council for Except ional Children, The American Psychological Association, The Cousultants Committee to Special Education Program at St. Louis University, and the Missouri Cooperative Com mittee on Special Education — Teacher Training. Sunday Calm Shattered By Bomb Blasts (Born and raised in Birming ham, the author of this report is director of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and assi stant school superintendent in the Mobile-Birm ingham dio cese. On Sunday morning, Sep tember 15, he was in the nei ghborhood when a bomb blast rocked the Sixteenth Street Bap tist church, killing four young Negro girls and injuring many other persons. This is his ac count of what he saw at the scene of the tragedy.) BY FR. WILLIAM JAMES BIRMINGHAM, Ala., — It sounded as if a score of su personic jet planes had simul taneously broken the sound bar rier. People poured into the al most deserted Sunday morning streets to scan the skies. I drove on for about a block until I saw a man pointing to what seemed to be a cloud of smoke rising some four blocks away. I drove to the area and parked my car. Then I began walking. THE STREET was swarming with hundreds of people. Up ahead was a swaying, pushing crowd. There were a few police- mem on hand, some of them auxiliaries wearing steel hel mets. People young and old were crying . Some were dazed and bewildered. Others were curs ing and shouting as if at an enemy with whom they were face to face. I REACHED the church and saw people streaming out of it. About 10 cars were parked be side the church. They looked as if they had been dragged there from the junk yard. Rocks and large stones and pieces of concrete were every where. Across the street cur tains waved through the bro ken windows of houses. On the east side of the church, where previously there had been a doorway and stairs, now there was an opening large enough to drive a big truck through. The church basement looked like the interior of war-torn build ings I had seen in pictures. THE THICK concrete and brick wall, powerfully built, was reduced to a mass of rubble. No floor was visible through the piles of rock and debris. A toilet bowl lay atop some rocks as if it had been casually and offhandedly thrown there. Blood was all over the side walk approaches to the church. People were being helped into the many ambulances that had begun arriving. A BYSTANDER said to me; "Father, they are trying to kill us." I could only agree. A well-dressed Negro man was pleading with the crowd to refrain from violence. It was his church that had been bomb ed. "The police will find those responsible for this," he said. A group of young men in the crowd loudly disagreed. TEN HELMETED police tri ed to move into the crowd. A patrol car eased through the mass of people. Someone bounc ed a stone off its top. Another followed. Other stones began to fly toward the line of police who tried to dodge them. The minis ter was still pleading for order. Many people whom I passed were anxious to speak. All were respectful and quiet, "re verend," one man said, "isn't this terrible?" A WELL-DRESSED man who looked like he might have been an usher in the church said: "Father, we've got to be patient. Vengeance is mine, says die Lord. We must not become vio lent." A young boy with a Bible in his hand walked by cursing loudly. Accidentally I bumped into a girl who was ready to throw a rock at the police. When she saw me she paused and dropped the rock. I SHOOK hands with a minis ter dressed exactly as I was, who told me this was the 40th bombing in recent years and asked me: "How long can we keep our people from serious retaliation?" I was reminded of thw words of the oppressed people in the Old Testament: "How long, O Lord, how long?" Now more police were ar riving. There were fire trucks with their lights flashing in broad daylight. Crowds of peo ple were running here and there, some escaping from the flying rocks, others crying for chil dren or loved ones who had been in the church. AS I WAS walking from the church an elderly gentleman said: "Reverend, why can’t they catch the ones who did such a thing? Why don’t they get those who are trying to kill us ?*' A short time later the se cond question would have been phrased differently, for by then they had found the bodies of the four little girls killed by the explosion. A LAST look at the scene, growing more and more fright ening by the minute, again bro ught to mind the minister’s question — "How long?" On this Sunday morning, begun so quietly and ended so CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 DANIEL F. FOLEY, a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and a practicing attorney of Wa basha and Rochester, Minn., is the newly elected National Com mander of the American Legion. He holds degrees from St. Tho mas College and Fordham Uni versity. He served as an Army staff sergeant in World War II.