Newspaper Page Text
PACE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1963
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 Kieman
2699 Peachtree N.E
P.O. Box 11667
Norths ide 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 Atlanta, Ga.
U.S.A. $5.00
Canada $5.50
Foreign $6.50
Out Of Order
A couple of days ago Associate
Justice William O. Douglas of the
U. S. Supreme Court told the New
Jersey Education Association
that discrimination is practiced
against Buddhists by the “Catho
lic Government” of Vietnam. He
added that the civil violence in
Vietnam was a “Catholic strug
gle for supremacy over Budd
hism.’
Justice Douglas’ remarks on
Vietnam were allegedly a preface
to a talk on the abuse of civil
rights. He charged that Catholic
schools in Vietnam received go
vernment subsidies while Budd
hist schools do not. He said Ca
tholic students are selected for
scholarships abroad, while Budd
hists are now. He made several
other charges of a similar nature.
We think Associate Justice
Douglas is out of order. Many of
his alleged facts have been dis
puted by competent American
news representatives on the
scene. We feel a man in his high
position should stick to facts in
any public commentary -- all the
more so when one considers the
steps being taken by our govern
ment to ease the civic tensions
in Vietnam.
We hold no brief for any perse
cution of Buddhists by the Viet
nam government. But we are tir
ed of this sinister labelling of that
regime as “Catholic”. It seems
to be a deliberate attempt by
some public figures, in and out of
this country, to embarrass the
Catholic Church. We could find
some excuse for it if Justice
Douglas was consistent in his
labels. We have never heard him
call the government of England
the “Protestant Government”, or
the Ceylon regime the “Buddhist
Government”, or the Sudan the
“Moslem Government.”
Furthermore, we have yet to
hear from Justice Douglas, a
widely-travelled man, any com
ment on the acknowledged abuse
by the Ceylon “Buddhist regime”
of Christian minorities in that
country. Neither have we heard
from him on the systematic eli
mination of Chrisian minorities
in the southern regions of the Su
dan. There is no question of the
facts in relation to these two
countries. The process has been
going on for several years. Yet,
we hear nothing about it in the
American press or from public
figures in high office.
We are disturbed by this ap
plication of a double standard in
relation to the abuse of civil
rights. They are just as wrong in
Ceylon and the Sudan as they are
in Saigon and Birmingham, Ala
bama. We suggest that Justice
Douglas be as diligent in his re
search for facts about Vietnam
as he obviously is in his opin
ions rendered through the Su
preme Court.
Bracero Scandal
The recent death of 32 brace-
ros, imported Mexican farm
workers, in an accident near Sa
linas, California, points up the
need for an end to a program
which gives scandal to our Ame
rican ideal.
The dead braceros were in a
truck-bus which was hit by a
train at a rail crossing, while
they were being transported from
the fields in which they worked.
A similar accident took place
three years ago at Mendoto, Cali
fornia, and almost as many farm
worker lives were lost.
The bracero program, which
authorizes importation of farm
workers from Mexico to this
country, has been in existence
about 20 years. Earlier this year,
the House refused to extend the
program on the grounds that it
deprived domestic farm workers)
statement of management
and circulation
iMi ai U, G#, Tide it UflflNRt Sum# Gate)
i- G*s* * RUage iRmwi iir 36, i*fri
L TiU* at
THE GEORGIA BULLffTIW
%, FarisipMf af imm Thuri^
*- ****** * fr-UixiXUm Wft P«*chtr»« N. E., Atlanta (FUlon County) Ceor-
>*. mm
5. R ife* s*a*quar’.ar» m z*T*rd ixmrn&t flCfcNM at -h* pubUahers; 2699 Peachtree Rtud,
K E,* asimm*, Gmrfl*
****** «** a tHtiihtmr mA ;naaagin« «iturj PyfaBafeer - ArcMtttfcop Paul J. Hallman.
******, CM*fit, tiRHi'-Qorord fi. Skerry, Adama, Georgia
?. Oman 9»mm CMteuc akIsf - - A corperade* sol*
6. Hoc
9. Use
Avg. m, C*f4«S
Each issue during
Preceding 12 months
Single issue
Near* »t to
Filing date
A. Total N®, c*0*s
PrksmA
>mm Pres# %AOt}
7,992
8,200
%. P*&> Or
9f carrier im-
t *try, or by acMr
SMSms
7.4UO
7.776
2. ace^ta,
saw* dfeflNrs, m
vtmnAAm
m
2)0
‘ rSi,
m
17©
D. I Aj* No. ueftt**
Usm «t
7,77®
8,146
* a******.-** mutt ay «* *r« awragt .omsiou.
QmtfA 1. Sjfcerry
Managing £dttor
of jobs, and that it was merely
an excuse for many farmers to
hire cheap labor. However, the
program is far from dead. Farm
lobbyists and legislators from
states where the braceros are
used extensively are attempting
to keep it alive.
The program is opposed by the
National Catholic Rural Life Con
ference, One of the chief objec
tions is that the regulations go
verning it are often abused, as
are the Mexican workers. For
every farmer who treats them
with dignity and pays them a liv
ing wage, there is one who treats
them like cattle; for every farm
er who provides decent housing,
there is another who provides
hovels. Many braceros are ex
ploited beyond human compre
hension, even in this so-called
civilized age. Many are contrac
ted out in a manner reminiscent
of the slave days. One has only
to recall the documentary film,
“Harvest of Shame”, which was
televised nationally several
years ago, and shattered the
complacency of most of our citi
zens.
It is not sufficient for farm
ers to answer that only Mexican
braceros will do the stoop work
needed on our farms. Many do
mestic farm workers are willing,
if they receive a just wage for
their labors; if decent housing is
made available; and if they are
granted other benefits now en
joyed by millions in our labor
force. Very little of the bil
lions of dollars which are pro
vided in farm subsidies by our
government goes to improve the
working conditions of farm la
borers., This is the crux of
the whole matter.
nz
REFORM
OF
ROMM
CURIAtJ
Last week in this space we published
a syndicated cartoon and caption “Break
ing Through the Spaghetti Curtain". Other
Catholic newspapers also published it. We
considered the original caption in bad
taste. We still do, and regret its publicat
ion. A substitute caption which we had
prepared was inadvertently left out through
an error in the offset make-up.
POPE AND COUNCIL
An Intellectual Leads
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
The second session of the Vatican Council
has begun with a vigor and sureness that are
thrilling and hopeful. At the time of the opening
of the Council even the most saguine observers
could hardly repress a feeling of skepticism
and possible defeat. A good deal of confusion
had been engendered by the contradictory state
ments of many in high places. It seemed too
much to hope that the bishops could sustain
the vision of Pope John and
lactually accomplish the reform
[that he desired. The facts con-
Ifounded the pessimists. In his
[opening address John dismissed
[the "prophets of doom” around
{him and rallied the Council Far
thers to the task at hand. The
[manner in which this remark
able man embodied the hopes
of so many, Catholics and ot
hers, earned him an unequalled place in the af
fection of the world. It was entirely natural that,
following his death, there should again be some
concern for the future of his great work. That
fear too may now be dismissed.
Pope Paul is bringing his own personal mark
to bear on the work of the Council. His person
ality is not that of John. Nor is it that of the
Council. Plus XII, under whose influence he worked
for so long. He has spent the first months of his
pontificate in the background, absorbed in the work
of preparing the second session of the Council.
He has not been the subject of the almost daily
news releases that relayed his predecessor's
warmth, wit and flashes of brilliance. As a re
sult, it is a little difficult to get the feel of Paul's
personal touch.
Pope Paul's personality comes through most
forcefully in his few public statements to date.
I am thinking particularly of his address to the
Roman Curia some weeks ago and the homily
he delivered at the opening of the second sess
ion of the Council. The qualities that stand out
are clarity and vigor combined with gentleness.
Both speeches are rather long. They exhibit a
distrust for vagueness and a trust of reason
that should be immeasurably helpful in the days a-
head.
There is another quality apparent in the state
ments of Pope Paul. They are measured. This
does not imply that he proposes half-measures.
Far from it. The point is that when he propos
es radical reforms, as in his speech to the mem
bers of the Curia, he prescribes them with a
reasonableness that has clearly been well consid
ered. In his opening homily to the Council Fat
hers, as Archbishop Hallinan noted last week,
he used terms not usual in papal statements,
such as reform, dialogue, ecumenicity. The words
are, in a sense, radical but the Pope’s manner is
not. Never do the terms turn into slogans and
run away with the ideas. Rather he speaks with
consideration and the depth and realism of his
thought shows forth clearly.
What emerges is the conclusion that Pope Paul
is an intellectual (a word considered suspect
in certain Catholic circles in the past, unfortu
nately). He is an intellectual in the authentic
and traditional Catholic meaning of the term.
He has faith in human reason and its ability to
achieve certitude. The intensity of his state
ments balances a passion for ideas with an
honest tolerance for the feelings and views of
others. While his gestures may be less spontan
eous than Pope John's, they are subtle and esp
ecially moving because of the deliberation that
has clearly preceded them.
LITURGICAL WEEK
Spinning Of Myths
REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
OCTOBER 13, 19TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTE
COST. Contrary to those who think of Christianity
as a matter of rose-colored glasses and a some
times lovely mythology, we believe it is utter
realism. It is the good pagan and the non-religious
humanist who wear the glasses and spin the myths.
Our celebration of the Eucharist today involves,
as usual, a heavy dose of rea
lism. No man can lift himself
up by his own bootstraps. No
man can achieve his own sal
vation. No one has a right to
be at the marriage feast-—un
less he is wearing the garment
which only the King can give.
Without grace man is naked,
destitute, likely to be (as the
First Reading realistically implies) a liar, a hater
or a thief. It is the religion which has the highest
view of man—our Christian Faith—which accepts-
him honestly where he is and for what he is.
ing). A pattern, to be useful, must be Intelligible
to the age and generation for which it is intended.
ST. TERESA OF AVILA, VIRGIN. We do not
know "the day nor the hour" (Gospel), but we do
know that creation moves toward fulfilment and
completion and "spiritualizaton.” A saint like
Teresa, who even in a turbulence of the age of the
Reformation and in the midst of heavily adminis
trative duties stoutly maintained the primacy of
prayer, is a sign we need today. "Would to God
that you could bear with a little of my foolish
ness 1" (First Reading.)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, ST. HEDWIG,
WIDOW. "Grace is poured out upon your lips,"
the Mass today repeats in Gradual and Offertory-
Hymns. Christ is the Word of God. Our religion is
a religion of the Word, the Gospel, the good news.
Our worship is action, but action which gives a
clear primacy to the Word and to faith as assent
to a word. It is natural then that a chief criterion
of holiness among us is the message we convey
in the words of our speech and writing.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, ST. CALLISTUS I,
POPE, MARTYR. This Mass of a pope with its
clear recognition of the fact that the pope, like all
of us, is utterly dependent on the Lord, that he
too stands under the judgment of God, reminds us
of the urgencyof our prayers for the Fathers of
the Council,now in their second session, and for
Pope Paul's leadership in this work of renewal
and reform. Efpeciilly that he and all the Fathers
may be truly a "pattern to the flock" (First Read-
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, ST. MARGARET
MARY ALACOQUE, VIRGIN. Love makes the
Christian "yoke. . .ease” and the "burden
light" (Gospel). Love is the universal language
which robs Christianity of any possible snob ap
peal and makes it as intelligible to the simple as
to the sophisticated. Christians of our age will
find anatomical symbols of the love which is the
Gospel less suitable and meaningful than the sac-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
REEXAMINE
Bishops Call
For ‘Poverty’
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, our national director
of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith,
recently called for a return to true poverty in
many spheres of Church life, and he suggested
that rich parishes adopt certain mission areas*
About ten days ago, Archbishop Helder Pessoa
Camara of Rio de Janiero is reported to have
proposed that his fellow bishops drop such titles
as "Excellency** and "Eminence** and generally
give up expensive trappings of their office, in
cluding rings, pectoral crosses and Cadillac
limousines.
BOTH PRELATES
received a drubbing
in some of our Cath
olic newspapers. The
Philadelphia Cathol
ic Standard and
Times editorially-
charged that the La
tin American Arch
bishop was "talking
through his mitre."
The St. Louis Review dismissed Bishop Sheen's
proposals as unrealistic.
1 think the criticism levelled at these bishops
was unfair and unrealistic. Given the usual ex
aggerations on emotional issues, I find more
than a grain of truth in their observations con
cerning the distance that separates the rich from
the poor; the distance that separates some of the
clergy from the faithful. To quote Archbishop
Camara, "Let us make our moral strength and
our authority depend on the make of our car.
There are small and simple cars, the use of
which everyone understands and accepts, there
are cars that scandalize and revolt."
THIS OBSERVATION does not apply only to
bishops, and is symptomatic of a grave problem in
the Church in all parts of the world. For ex
ample, we are inclined to think that the Church
is poor only in the foreign missions. However,
there are stark contrasts here in tills country.
One has only got to consider the material con
ditions of the clergy in the big metropolitan area
of the east, middle west, and southwest with
their conferes in the rural south and some other
areas. The gap between the "haves** and the
"have nots** is, in many cases, startling. This
is one side of the coin. There is the other side
on which Archbishop Camara makes pointed com
ment, "Let us end once and for all the impres
sion of Bishop-Prince, residing in a place, iso
lated from the clergy whom he treats distantly
and coldly. Let us end, once and for all, the im
pression of authority which insists more, in pra
ctice, in making itself feared than loved, of making
itself served, rather than in serving. "Some
times, too, churches are so "Grandiose** that
the poor lack the courage to enter them.**
Then, too, there is question of religious vows of
poverty. In the old days, this really meant some
thing, and still does in some countries and mis
sion areas. Alas, in many of the highly industria
lized countries it has lost a good deal of its
meaning. While the priests or religious may well
own nothing, individually or personally, few are
poor in a civic sense.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
Let no reader misinterpret these Reapings as an
anti-clerical diatribe. Far from it. Many bishops
and priests are genuinely worried about the
modem trends in relation to all this. The high
station of a bishop, and the importance of the
clergy and religious in the sacramental life of the
community makes it imperative that no false image
be given of them. The laity must be educated to
a constant reverence of the bishop and the priest.
They must be urged to contribute to their support. *
No one is suggesting that the clergy be doomed to )
unnecessary poverty while the laity live "high on
the hog". Questions are being asked in all areas
of Church life. While not all bishops and priests
live luxuriously, some do; while not all bishop’s
residences and parish rectories are grandiose,
some are. While our archdiocese is not affected,
it is to these contradictions that I think both Bis- 1
hop Sheen and Archbishop Camara are pointing.
THEY POINT, too, to the contradictions bet
ween the rich and poor laity, and that a fair share
of the wealth should be distributed to alll. This
Is one of the problems posed in the present
emphasis on tithing within the Church. Many of
the laity have never given a fair share to support
the work of the Church. But more and more are
doing so. They have mortagages up to their necks;
they have tuition bills for school; all the de
mands of both Church and community charities.
The future is secure only as long as the brea
dwinner Is working. It is not unnatural for them to
ask that their sacrifices be matched by the
elimination of unnecessary frills and opulence
in the erection of churches, schools, and rect
ories. There is nothing anti-clerical in their
thinking this way. After all, Catholic education
is producing a new breed of laity which is not
subservient, nor is it arrogant. Perhaps intell
ectual docility will be the correct phase for this
so-called age of the laity. There is a vast dif
ference between this and subservience.
THE FACT that Archbishop Camara and Bishop
Sheen have declared themselves publicly on tills
subject is a further Indication that Pope John's
call for renewal affects not only the Church as
a structure, but also as Individual members
of the Mystical Body. Our present Pope has shown
that he intends to continue this renewal in all
phases of Catholic Life. The eradication of un
essential* will re-emphasize the unchangeable
kernel of the Divine deposit, while focusing on
the changeable human kernel.