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PAGE < GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 19, 1963
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SCtVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
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A Negro Child
“The love that forgives" is the
text for today, as well as last
Sunday when human pride over
took reason and claimed the lives
of four small Negro youngsters
in a barbaric bomb attack on their
Birmingham church.
It is too late to weep. It is
not enough to express sorrow;
and anger is out of place. It
was bound to happen, as it hap
pened some forty times before,
even though these were the first
lives claimed by the bomb thro
wers. It was bound to happen,
because state and local leaders
including churchmen, have paid
only lip service to the Christian
ideal.
More important, the extre
mists have been in control while
the so-called moderates have
been satisfied with pious cliches
unrelated to the basic problem.
Of all the possible questions
about integration and racial jus
tice, the most agonizingconcerns
colored children. In the midst of
many sociological, economical
and cultural factors, the simple
fact of the children acts as a
beam of light and a spur to
action.
There they stand, brimful of
hope, bursting with potentialities,
but also damned to despair. In
the eyes of wonderful little hu
man persons, wounded by pre
judice, all theories of racial pride
dissolve in the bitter, salt taste
of human tears.
What segregationist is low
enough to walk up to a ten year
old boy, who wears his dreams
on his sleeve, and be callous
enough to tell him that he is
cursed by a vengeful God, and
that he must remain forever
frustrated, merely because he is
colored?
What harrassed real estate
operator or home owner worried
by economic posibilities, has the
heart to look at a little girl,
filled with the nascent woman
hood of all miniature Eves, and
tell her that her daughters and
granddaughters are doomed to
live as her mother and her grand
mother lived, locked on the bot
tom rung of the social ladder,
merely because she is colored?
What worried restaurateur,
hotel manager, or business exe
cutive, would have the gall to
look squarely at a Negro child,
and tell him that he has no
place in “our establishment"
merely because he is colored?
The tragedy is that few of us
have ever met a Negro child.
The ghetto walls that shield us,
keep us from ever meeting a
Negro as a person.
eternal importance. For, if we
cannot see the Christ Child in the
Colored child, we will not see
the God-man in the colored man,
and if we fail to see Him there,
we will also fail to see Him for
all eternity.
The Church has made it clear
time and time again that the right
relations of various racial or
national groups to one another in
the community is a moral pro
blem - a matter of objective
right and wrong. It cannot be
adequately or effectively treated
in any other way. The Church has
made it plain that legalized and
compulsory segregation is itself
a moral injustice. It is a crime
against human nature, and as such
is an offense against God Himself.
Catholics have to face the pro
blem in that light. They have
to rise above the mob, and con
sciously accept the teaching of
the Church.
“The love that forgives" was
the text for the Sunday school
lesson at Birmingham’s Negro
Baptist Church on Sixteenth
Street. It is the non-violent mes
sage which has been preached
throughout the land by those
Negro and White leaders busy
in the fight for racial justice.
It is a message which the Bir
mingham Negroes havebeenask-
ed to take to heart despite the
horrible provocations of the past.
We can only admire their pa
tience -- all the more so since
previous bombing provocations
have gone unpunished. But how
long can the leaders of the non
violent movement hold in check
the seething frustrations of the
Negro community? We can only
hope and pray that men of cour
age will at last come forward
and cry “Stop" to the white
extremists. It may already be
too late. However, we have faith
that the death of the four Negro
children will lead the people of
Birmingham to cast off the yoke
of the hate-mongers and turn to
true brotherhood through love of
neighbor.
GERARD E. SHERRY
Idols, Comp
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
SEPTEMBER 22, SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER
PENTECOST. The covenant truth that there Is
one and only one God is affirmed in our public
worship today in a way to which we do not often
advert. The Gospel is Jesus telling us that even
sacred institutions like the Sabbath can threaten
the worship due the living God. If they cease to
serve that worship and try to achieve some kind of
independent or absolute status, they are idols,
competing gods, and must be put in their place
lest God’s people be misled.
A white man can live a whole
lifetime without ever being put
in the position of seeing the
Negro as anything else than “one
of them", one of those people
one of a herd. If progress is
ever to be made, it must happen
that white persons will meet
colored persons as persons, will
see them as human beings with
all of the human capacities, needs
and hopes that the white person
has.
He tells us too that man's
greatness is strictly of the
a message which He re
peated in the fabric of His life
by humbling Himself to death
and the cross so that God's glory
might be plainly seen in His
rising again and in His victory.
The whole First Reading is also
a hymn to God's mighty power,
to which is attributed every human good and grace.
It is a humble confidence which we express at
the altar today, a confidence made possible by
humility and rendered foolish without it. As we
share the holy gifts we sing: "Lord, I will tell
of the holiness that is yours alone."
For the Catholic, this is of MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, ST. LINUS, POPE,
RENEWAL OF CHURCH
WITHIN THE CHURCH
Understanding Dissent
to single out the essential element of some ques
tion, for example, the rights of man or the
proper relation of the state to the family or to
the Church, etc. The imperative which it lays
upon the person who is committed to its truth
is to translate the standard it sets into practi
cal action. This will involve an assessment of
many things less sure than the principle itself:
what is possible in these circumstances is the
most efficient means of achieving the desired
end, the effects it will have on other questions
of greater importance.
In this process of working out a conclusion
there is bound to be some difference of opinion.
Hard reality does not always yield willingly to
the prescriptions of thought. To some, one con
sideration will seem to have predominant impor
tance. Another will not accept such a choice
but will anticipate an outcome that will better
balance die two concerns.
If this seems too theoretical, the record
gives evidence that it is a very practical con
cern. Too many Catholics have been ready to
read out of the Church those with whom they
disagree. The sincerity of too many honest men
has been impugned because they would not follow
a determined "line". Too many times the ac
cusation of ignoring or tampering with the facts
has cancelled out any recourse to discussion.
Pressure tactics have too frequently been sub
stituted for a willingness to submit a difference
of opinion to public and rational judgement.
THE CATHOLICS who ignore the solemn and
public statements of the Church on questions
which affect their personal interests and pre
possessions are the only ones who rule them
selves out of the healthy and intelligent dialogue
that ought to exist among us. To prefer some
other consideration to the clear voice of the Ch
urch speaking about the real problems we face
may be rationalized in the name of freedom but
automatically disqualifies a person, to that
very degree, from speaking as a Catholic. That
is the only way in which it can be done.
eting Gods, Mislead People
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam is
a Catholic. President John F. Kennedy of the
United States is a Catholic. They are involved
in a rather serious disagreement. William Buck-
ley is a Catholic and a conservative. John Cog-
ley is a Catholic and a liberal. They disagree
about any number of things. Cardinal Ottaviani
of the Holy Office and Cardinal Suenens of Brus
sels are both eminent prelates of the Catholic
Church. They also represent divergent view
points concerning many issues. For a certain
number of Catholics, in spite of repeated ex
planations, thisremains a problem, occasionally
approaches a source of scandal, k may, there
fore, be of value to clarify the proper dist
inctions and attempt to lay the question to
rest.
To begin with, it is not a matter of a relat
ivist escape from the question by vaguely af
firming that "everyone is enti
tled to his opinion.*' We must
assume for the sake of the argu
ment a devotion to truth, to the
right answer, that would not
compromise itself merely on
the basis of being permissible.
If there is to be anything re
sembling an intelligent ex
change of opinion and Judge
ment from which progress may
result, we are bound to predicate sincerity of
those who disagree with us - unless and until
they prove their lack of it. Failure in this re
gard precludes any possibility of inteligent ex
change.
HOW CAN it happen, then, that people who
share a basic allegiance to a body of principles
will arrive at such thoroughly contrary conclu
sions about matters that ought to be governed
by those veryprinciples? The answer lies in the
word 'principle''. A principle is a beginning,
a point of departure for thought. Any principle
worthy of the name is an attempt to be at least
relatively universal. It tries, in other words,
LITURGICAL WEEK
MARTYR. Even that first place among the bishops
which the popes occupy, by God's decree, is a ser
vant’s role — **nor yet as lording it over your
charges, but becoming from the heart a pattern
to the flock"-)First Reading). If there should be
any mistake aboiit it, die Qffetory hymn quotes
Jeremla: "Behold, I have placed my words in your
mouth." Our conviction that the hierarchy is
part of God's plan for His Church is not a faith in
men but in the Word of God.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, MASS AS ON
SUNDAY. "That your grace may always direct
and be with us,*’ is our petition in the Opening
Prayer of the Mass today. The liturgy always
tries to involve us in a simple recognition of the
fact that we are made by God and for God. This
is the way we are. It is not a matter of "Every
rung goes higher, higher" or "every day in every
way," though these refrains have a certain truth
about them, too. It is only that the human person
has no other meaning and no other destiny.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, MASS AS ON
SUNDAY. Our meaning and our destiny are in our
relationship to our Father and our brothers and
sisters. A curious combination of humility and
glory which the practical order vindicates and
which has stood the test of time. "Wonderful are
the deeds (our glory) which he has wrought (our
humility),*' we sing in the Alleluia before the
Gospel.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, SS. ISAAC JO-
GUES, JOHN DE BREBEUF & COMPANIONS,
MARTYRS. This is a local feast for the United
States, so it offers us an example (admittedly
very minor and inadequate) of the adaptation of
Catholic public worship to different cultures and
environments-—a principle aff irmed almost unani
mously by the Fathers of Vatican Council II last
year.
It might be well today, then, to pray for the
putting of that principle into practice in a vastly
more general and thorough way, so that all seg
ments and levels of human society, while express
ing the same Faith and enjoying the same Gospel
formation in worship, may be able todoboth well,
whether their natural bent is for handclapping or
for Bach.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, SS. COSMAS & DA
MIAN, MARTYRS. How well the martyrs serve
the whole Christian community 1 They demonstrate
that no good, even life, can compete for our wor
ship with the all-high God. And they serve as
models of selflessness and dedication for all
generations: "Let the people show forth the wis
dom of the saints, and let the Church declare
their praise" (Entrance Hymn). The Gospel speaks
to human distress and tells us that where God
does not supply healing He supplies a blessing.
There is no way to lose for him who has faith.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
What Is
A Bishop?
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
The news wires this week brought to public
attention the personal tragedies of two members
of the world-wide Catholic hierarchy.
Bishop Francis Walsh of Aberdeen, Scotland,
resigned his post in a dispute with the Vatican,
and was given a titular See by Pope Paul. Arch
bishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc of Hue,
South Vietnam, brother of the president of that
country, arrived in the United States, implying
that he had been ordered by the Holy See to keep
silent about his country's explosive political situa
tion.
Already I have had
several telephone
sails to my office,
asking what exactly
is the role of a bis
hop. Here are some
thoughts once w ritten
on the subject under
editorial anonymity.
THE LAYMEN re
spects and obeys his
bishop, but the same layman may not be aware
of what a bishop is. The role of the bishop is
perhaps best illustrated in the celebration of
a solemn Pontifical Mass. Here, when the Ordi
nary of the Diocese, surrounded by his priests
and people, offers in all splendor the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass, one is impressed by the meaning
of the bishop’s office as teacher and ruler of the
flock entrusted to him by God.
Just as the Pope is the visible head of the
Universal Church, so the bishop is the head of
the diocese, the local Christian community. The
local Christian community is ruled by Our Lord
Jesus Christ through the authoritative voice of its
own bishop. The bishop of a diocese is, then,
no mere administrator of temporal affairs, no
mere executive insuring the smooth running of a
large administrative body, but rather the spokes
man under the Supreme Pontiff, of the divine
Head, Jesus Christ.
"BISHOPS, then, must be considered as the
nobler members of the universal Church,” wrote
Pope Pius XII in the encyclical on the Mystical
Body, "for they are linked in an altogether
special way to the divine Head of the whole body
and so are rightly called 'most excellent among
the members of die members of the Lord’. . ."
So the honor which is paid to bishops is no mere
empty ceremonial, but the response to a subline
spiritual truth.
Bishops are joined in a special way to Jesus
Christ, the divine Head of the Mystical Body,
His Church, because as true shepherds, bishops
freed the flocks entrusted to them, and rule those
flocks in the name of Christ. This feeding is
done through the confering of the sacraments
(especially of the Holy Orders and Confirma
tion). The ruling of the flock is carried out by
the guarding of morals. It is the bishop of the
diocese who is in the first place responsible for
the truth of doctrine and the rightness of life
among the souls given into his care.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
IN EXERCISING this role of shepherd, the
bishop is not altogether independent, but subor
dinate to the Roman Pontiff. Although the juris
diction of the bishop is inherent in his office,
yet it is received directly from the Supreme Pont
iff, the encyclical on the Mystical Body tells'us.
No bishop may be consecrated without specific-
authorization from the Holy Father. This is the
reason why we say that the bishops are the suc
cessors of the apostles.
To the rulers of this world, can be applied
the warning, "Touch not my anointed ones,” 1
for bishops have been anointed with the chrism
of the Holy Spirit," says Pope Pius XIL These
words were written against a background of Com
munist and Fascist attempts to intimidate more
bishops. The same words ring with more meaning
in the light of more recent events.
Bishops must not be touched maliciously as a
Steplnac or Beran, or a Mindszenty have been
touched. Nor may they be condemned in court
for doing their duty, as the bishop of Prado was
originally condemned for denouncing public
sinners. Nor may they be attacked in a news
paper advertisement by misguided Catholic lay
men, as one American bishop was a few years
ago. Rather they must be treated as the nobler
members of the Mystical Body of Christ, divinely
appointed, under the Supreme Pontiff, to rule and
teach the souls entrusted to them.
THE POWER of the Supreme Pontiff over bis
hops, far from standing in the way of the power
of ordinary and immediate jurisdiction by which
the bishop feeds and rules the particular flock
entrusted to him, rather confirms the power of
the local bishop. In the words of Pope St. Gre
gory, the Great, "My honor is the solid stren
gth of my borthers (the bishops). 1 am truly
honored when due honor is paid to each and every
one."
The office and the authority of bishops was
established not by human council, but by divine
law, as the Church teaches us in several of her
most important documents. St. Paul, speaking in
the Acts of the Apostles (20:28) tells us that the
authority of bishops is given by the Holy Ghost:
"Take heed of yourselves, and to the whole flock
in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops,
to rule the Church of God, which He has purcheased
with his own blood."