The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, November 07, 1963, Image 5

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The Georgia bulletin, November 07, 1963, Image 5

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Newspaper Page Texts M GEORGIA PINES Georgia Irredenta Saints in Black and White ‘SUSPICION OF FREEDOM' ST. JOHN MARY VIANNEY 65 BY REV. DONALD R. KIERNAN Much, in a serious vein; and more, in a joking Oi light vein has been said and Written about the present border dispute between Georgia andTen- nesee. Deryone took it asasortof "volley ball" until Tenessee officials realized that our Governor was r 0 jng to appeal to the United States Supreme Cour in order to get the acreage back. 1-iIS CONTROVERSY' has been going on for years. Every year a delegation from the General Assemty travels up to Chattanooga to view some choice poperty which the State of Georgia owns in the heariof that city. It seems that after the War between the States, Tennessee and Georgia were going to build a railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga. For some reason or other, Tennessee pulled out of the project and our state bought the right of way into Chattanooga. So technically, 1 Georgia owns a strip of property from the state 1« right into Chattanooga, includ ing about a four lock section in the heart of Chat tanooga. ( a hoteLnd the administration building of the TV A are o, that property) An interesting note: every seven^ars the streets are blocked off to legally showjjat the property is privately owned and not a porfon of that city. THEN TOO, ANYOf; who has ever been inside the railroad station atChattanooga has seen a lo comotive there that t owned by us "Georgia Crackers" and on Georjja owned soil. No one likes to give up*erritory. Nations go to war and lives are sacrlced for pieces of land. , Worse than giving up ternary is being taxed for if* It seems that up on th*north Georgia border the sentiment of the people\e>> more with Georgia than with Tennessee. Heme, they resent Ten nessee taxes and now the', are fighting mad. THE WHOLE STORY goes back well over a hundred years. When Tennessee joined the Union it was done in such haste that the border line were not accurately drawn. For years it was a dispute which did not particularly distrub or worry anyone. Whether our giving land back to Mexico last month kindled a new spark in the dis pute, I do not know. At any rate those people up there feel like "the man without a country." Copperhill, Tennessee, is an interesting exam ple. Part of the local parish church in that town is located in the Diocese of Nashville and the other part is in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. This works out well and territorially speaking a person is obligated by the laws of the place in which he ac- tally lives. However, as one wag put it: "since a dispensation from the laws of fast and abstinence are granted in Atlanta for Saint Patrick's Day (which falls during Lent) would it be all right for a man to eat a mean sandwich in the part of the church which is in the Atlanta archdiocese?" How ridiculous can you get? (The man ought to be shot for eating in church anyhow!) PRIESTS OVER IN Lanet, Alabama, which is just over the state line from West Point, Georgia have always enjoyed "borderline faculties" of the diocese. The same is true for the priests sta tioned in Milledgeville, Georgia, which is close to the line separating us from the Diocese of Sa vannah. In both places part of the congregation live in one diocese but find it more convenient to go to church in another diocese. All of these things work out well. For years, the Ga. - Tenn. border dispute worked out well too. It now has become sort of like the man who has a tree at the edge of his property and his leaves fall in the neighbor’s yard. Who has to clean the yard? I GUESS THE whole problem will be worked out, though. Someone suggested a football game be tween Tech and Vandy, with the victor receiving the spoils. At any rate, though, one Legislator told me that if Carl raises our taxes those people up there will wish that they had left well enough alone. QUESTION BOX Negroes Cursed By God? BY MONSIGNOR J. 0. CONtfAY C. THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO IN SIST THAT THE BIBLE TEACHis US IT IS WIONG TO INTEGRATE, ANDTHAT'JiE NEGRO RjJE WAS CURSED BY GOD. BUT IC^N’T FIND IT WOULD YOU PLEASE PRINT THE PASSAGE TIEY ARE REFERRING TO, OR "ELL ME W1ERE TO FIND IT. I JUST CAN'T RELIEVE T1IS. : A. I don’t believe it either. You have heard th old saying that the devil can quote Scrip ture for his purpose. Segrega tionists are on the side if the devil; so they share his tbil- ity to juggimg Holy Writ. Mrs. Gaillot, the excomm unicated racist of New Orleans, once sent me a copy of a book let she has published in which she attempts to show from texts I of Scripture, taken completely out of context and twisted so violently to her purpose, that the Negro is inferior, cursed, ccjemned to slavery, and unfit to associate wi the white man. I tried to find this booklet wli I received your question. But apparently I mt have filed it in my waste-basket long ago. To bad! It had value as an example of ignor ant an d prejudice writhing in the turmoil of a sic-nind. T~.e distorted, fantastic interpretations of the Biblhad their origin in the days of slavery. A Cistian slave-owner had a troubled cons- cien* the teachings of Christ on brotherhood, char: an d the golden rule, were a torture to him. o he searched the Bible for isolated texts whichjight give him solace. These same texts remai U seful today to help rationalize the in justice^ segregation. The /orite argument is taken from Genesis 9:18 - 10:20, which tells of the sin of Ham against s f at her Noah, and Noah’s cursing of Ham —. rather his curslng Qf Canaan> the son o , ' Jo would be the meanest of slaves to his broiL Sf jhe aut hor of Genesis then lists the desce tnls 0 f Ham; Cush, Egypt, Put and Can aan. ine , st S i gni f icant feature of this listing is that thee SCendants of were ^ worst Israelites: The Canaanites first of all all t^er owners of the Promised Land ~~ ^.P!’ .^h had held Israel in slavery', and the 1 huistin invading enemy. I here is indication that any of the desce ndants of Han ere black< ^ Canaan ites, dire ctly cursed, v. e Semi t ic people, like the Israe lites. it is truth a t some of the descendants of Cush, Ham’s first son, migrated to Ethiopia, where they presumably came in contact with black people in later centuries. But it was not Cush who was cursed, but Canaan, Ham's youngest son. Another type of segregation text is found fre quently in the Old Testament. The Israelites were forbidden to mix with pagan peoples lest they weaken their religion and adopt idolatry. And members of one tribe of Israel were for bidden to marry persons of another tribe. This was to avoid complications of inheritance. The 12 tribes had divided the land among them selves and they wanted to keep it that way. They were all Israelites; there was no racial problem. Q. IF A PERSON SAYS SOMETHING THAT IS NOT TRUE, "A LITTLE WHITE LIE" TO KEEP peace in the "Family, or with a neighbor, WHAT KIND OF SIN IS IT, AND SHOULD IT BE CONFESSED? A. There are many conventionalities which are not strictly true, but are not lies in a moral sense; e.g. "you look levely this morning, darl ing," "oh, I feel just fine, thank you”; "nice day, isn’t- it"; "of course I am listening to you, and I agree with you thoroughly”; "I promise to be in early"; etc. Even if you think that your conventionality has shaded over into untruth I would not worry about confessing it in detail. You might say that you tend at times to be more polite than truth ful, to flatter, praise and compliment beyond impartial credulity, or to evade a frank answer which might be troublesome. Telling the truth is a sound social virtue, which often involves justice and charity. But if you went around telling all the truth to every one all the time you would have few friends, no one would trust you with a secret, and you would often invite physical violence to yourself and oth ers. Q? IN OUR GRADE SCHOOL, DURING THE LATE MORNING DAILY MASS, ABOUT 200 CHILDREN RECEIVE COMMUNION. WHY ISN’T THE PRACTICE OF THE PRIEST STANDING AT THE CENTER OF THE RAILING AND THE CHIL DREN COMING FORWARD AND RECEIVING CARRIED OUT? A. I don’t know, possibly because the pastor never heard of it, or does not know it is permit ted, or is opposed to any change in habitual ways of doing things. Some people are convin ced that kneeling increases their piety. 1 have heard some claim that the practice of standing so much in Church is an imitation of Prot estants. Kneeling is the thing which most distingu ishes Catholics from Protestants, they say. LITURGICAL WEEK Pledge Of Future Glory CONT ‘jRD FROM PAGE 4 FRIDAY, NOBEN^ r 15| ST> ALBERT THE GREAT, BISHOP, C^ ESS0R> DOCTOR. But it was to all of His foiy ers> t0 aR men 0 f f a ith ( that Jesus spoke and ^ ker *s; "You are the salt . . .you are the light From the bapti smal candle to the fuiLj torcb> the Church's liturgy surrounds the C istian with emb _ lems of His mission, k annually, at Easter, makes a very special poi^ iu 0ne of the basic symbols of the liturg>—l*L.-speaks a universal tongue that reaches everyL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, ST. GERTRUDE, VIRGIN. "I have .betrothed you to Christ" (First Reading). No one analogy' exhausts the meaning of the Church. We find righ insight and under standing in the gigure of the Church as the Body of Christ. This figure of the Church as Bride offers no less to the Christian mind and heart. Faith as a dialogue between persons, the inter dependence of love and faith, the oneness of the object of love and faith—these notions, fundame- tal to our comprehension of the Church, can be grasped in the symbol of the Bride. Opposition Vital Need Of The Church Today 1. 4. 8. 13. 14. 15. 17. 19. 20. 22. 23. 24. 25. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 40. 41. 44. 45. ACROSS 46. 47 Make lace 49. Tolerate 50. Flare 51. State; abbr. 52. curtain Fall S3. Abnormally 54. symmetrical 55. Strayed 56. Therapeutic 5”. organization 58. Corrode* Disables 59. His name is 62. among the ... 64. His feast day is 65. August 66. Actual circumstances 67. Tease 68. Arthritis Aid Sot To reduce to a half Kind of lettuce 1. Wheel used for cutting 2. Part of a horseman's V gear Graduate Nurse 4. becomes one 5. Stopping place 6. Tress One svho attempts 7 . Jutlander 8. A rainbow, for instance 9. London streetcar 10. Where Lincoln is 11. seen most often 12. Tip langle Propert> (Latin) Rapacity Eagle's nest Arrow used tn crossbows Presentable Perceive Coagulated milk Patchwork garment Heavy duty Cardinal Mindszenty is one He was born . ... Smart Shoulder of a road Rubber tree Ransack beat Compass point DOWN Outlet Fermented liquor Ancient units of weight He was of humble Part of the human eye One of the Seven Dwarfs Printer’s measure He was one until age 19 Entices Sweetsop Mire Type measure 16. 18. 19 21 2 3 24. 25. 26. 2 28 30. 31 33. 34. .36. 3" 1 39 10. <1. i2. i 3. ■t 5. 18. 49. 50. 52. 5 3. 55. 56. 58. 59. 60. 61 6,3. 61. He was a .... of France Solemn statement Artists use it Flower Part of a coat water Mother-of-pearl Representation Crouch in tear Part of the foot Emblem of a clan Small animal Imperial Quest Mr. Truman Marriage feast of Glare Depression Air cell of the lungs Downfall Transmitted ... war Desert plants Part of a window Requirements Internal cslindrical cavity Present Protrude Beneath the epidermis Fail Sandburg Arrowroot . ■ . gratia* Degree Coniferous tree Translate: abbr. Bishop: abbr. ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE ON PAGE 7 VATICAN CITY (NC)—"A council without opposition and discussion would engender sus picion about the freedom of the council Fathers," according to Archbishop John J. Krol of Philadelphia. Speaking at a special back ground press conference ar ranged by the American Bis hops, Archbishop Krol explain ed various problems and cir cumstances surrounding the council’s rules. He is one of the five undersecretaries of the council. HE DISCLOSED that strict ly speaking * *there will not be any simultaneous translation system operating during the council sessions." Instead, he said there is an experiment to provide translations in six lan guages of the prepared texts of the council Fathers, to be broadcast while the Father is speaking in the hall. He explained that a council Father would have to present the text of his Intervention four days ahead of his scheduled speech so that it could be translated into the various languages. HE WANTED IT made clear, however, that the translated text as read over the transistor broadcasting system might not be exactly that which the Father is actually delivering. He ex plained that a speaker might decide to delete or add por tions to his prepared text. ARNOLD VIEWING ‘Lilies’ Witty, Buoyant BY JAMES W. ARNOLD The obvious marvel about Ralph Nelson's "Lilies of the Field’’ is that it was ever made and distributed. Equally marvelous is that it is so validly delightful, despite unpromising material that seems little more than updating "The Bells of St. Mary’s’’ into the era of civil rights and the Berlin Wall. Lest what follows seem negative and carping, it should be reported that "Lilies” is a witty, buoyant comedy about what happens when a wand ering young Negro (Sidney Poitier) meets five impoverished East German nuns bent on estab lishing a convent in (of all places) the Arizona desert. Few human beings, or even IBM com puters, will not find it full of the gentle joy that soothes the spirit. Producer-director Nelson ^("Requiem for a Heavyweight") ' put it together from William Barrett's 1962 novella with lit tle concern for commerce. The hero is a Negro, the heroine an aging mother superior, the plot is about building a chapel, and the title is deadly. A film maker willing to hurdle these box-office obstacles simply be cause he loves the story deserves a star in the middle of his forehead. Yet these nuns (in James Poe’s playful script) differ little from the gay types so rampant in Hollywood before "The Nun’s Story." They are still naive, smugly confident and comic in con fronting the contraptions of the 20th century, still praying cynical businessmen out of the material know-how to build chapels, schools and hospitals. The basic joke in "Lilies" is that the Sisters are even more unworldly than usual, farm-girl refugees who speak an operetta German-English and who learn the language from a record that teaches such appropriate sample sentences as "Please send the valet up to my room, here is my laundry list." While scratching subsis tence from die desert, they are not at all concerned about starvation but intent on build ing a chapel for themselves and neighboring churchless Mexican-Americans. The Sisters are lovable anachronisms who live an admirably hard life for their faith, but their sacrifice lacks point. Their situation is summed up in a beautifully poignant shot of them march ing single—file along the hot desert highway to Mass. The average American will think it funny and touching, but silly. He is much more likely to be drawn to Poitier’s Homer Smith. A perfect foil for the nuns, Homer is a good- natured Baptist with 20th century skills and soph istication. He is kind, knows his Bible, enjoys singing hymns with the same zest as he sings "Frankie and Johnny.” He admires the Sisters, although he does not understand them. His out look on life mixes easily with the joys of our "happiness now” society. Archbishop Krol said that si multaneous translations are not being considered because of personnel problems, not techni cal ones. In discussing the rules gov erning the council,Archbishop Krol pointed out that the right to freedom of expression must be safeguarded. ’Truth is reach ed by a vigorous exchange of opinions and discussions would engender suspicion about the freedom of the council Fa thers.” HOWEVER, HE noted that the right of expression does not have to be oral expression, as the Fathers can submit their opinions in writing. "Freedom of expression is not an abso lute right. A prior right is the progress of the council; thus, then the rule of cloture, which has been invoked several times.” Archbishop Krol said the Council of the Presidency is consistantly studying ways of speeding up procedures. But that at the moment no speci fic plan for changing the pre sent procedure is being consid ered. ARCHB1SHOP-KROL said the present rules are about as good as can be expected, although they are not perfect. The only one that he thinks might be al tered is the present discrepency between the type of majority needed to pass a conciliar act and that needed to reject it. ARCHBISHOP KROL noted that the Council of the Presi dency has the task of seeing to it that council rules are re spected. Moderators actually run the council and can do as they like as long as they fol low the rules. For example, when the mod erators originally presented the four questions they wanted the Fathers to vote on, the Presi dency overruled them because such an act was not permitted by the council norms. The mat ter was referred to the Coor dinating Commission, which met with the Cardinals of the presidency and moderators and worked out a way in which the questions could be presented without violating the rules and that the wording of the ques tions could not be interpreted as favoring one side or ano ther. ARCHBISHOP KROL assert ed that the council has shown a unanimity of spirit somewhat unexpected after the tremen dous number of opinions ex pressed on one question or ano ther. "Last year’s discussions on a part of the liturgy schema— with a total of 630 oral and written interventions—would, according to many, give little hope for accord,’’he said. "Yet after the 26 major recommen dations returned to the floor from the commission, the aver age favorable note on 26 succes sive ballots was in excess of 98.4 per cent.” The film’s real meaning is that Homer and the nuns like each other and cooperate successfully for quite different reasons - the Sisters get their chapel. Homr finds himself as both a leader and achiever. (In the movie's most affecting mom ent, Nelson shows Homer scrawling his name in the wet cement holding the cross to the tower). But ultimate rapport breaks down. The superior (Lilia Skala) refuses to give Homer’s pride the boost it needs; God, she insists, built the chapel. Their parting is friendly but pathetic; something has been gained, but something else, perhaps an opportunity, has been lost. Perhaps this is only quibbling that the easy going Baptist comes off better than the hard- nosed Catholics. Yet the feeling persists that the film captures Homer poetically and sympat hetically but allows the nuns to slip out of fo cus into the they’re-nice-but* -inscrutable ste reotype. Poitier’s infectious, performance could well begin a series on the adventures of Homer Smith. Yet one is unsure whether this is really Homer, the purposeless ex-GI vagabond, or simply Poi tier, uninhibitedly himself for the first time. The only character who is definitely not cuter- than-life is Miss Skala's heroic, sensitive but stubborn mother superior. Nelson’s brilliant cast ing rescued this pre-Hitler Viennese stage star from a Long Island factory. Instead of Poitier- Skala, Nelson says he was urged to pair Steve McQueen with a pretty novice who hadn’t taken her final vows. Nelson and Poe make me story a continuous delight, full of funny quips and wonderful de tails ( the doors of Homer’s station wagon are tied with rope, there are "Alcatraz" and "San Quentin" pennants on the walls of the local bistro). The humor may lean too heavily on cultural dif ferences and Homer’s long-,sjuffering about the sparse pay and food. The photography by Ernest Haller ("Rebel Without a Cause") is bright and crisp as the Arizona landscape, and music, cle verly adapted from the swinging spiritual "Amen," eloquently underlines die plot's com parisons and contrasts. The fact that Homer is a Negro has relevance only as partial motivation. In a skillful scene, Homer agrees to build the chapel rather than admit to a prejudiced businessman that he is simply a wandering drifter. In this film Poit ier succeeds in removing his own, as well as the audience's, consciousness of race difference. From the start he forces you to give him your love, and love is not easily taken back. Depressingly enough, a cartoon feature on die same bill made great fun of a fat Negro maid being frightened by a mouse and dropping in her haste to escape, among other objects, her razor blade. CURRENT RECOMMENDED FILMS: For everyone: Lawrence of Arabia, The Four Days of Naples, Lilies of the Field, The Great Escape. For connoisseurs: 8 1/2,This Sporting Life, The L-Shaped Room. Better than most: The Longest Day, Mutiny on theBounty, The Haunting, The V. L P.’s. Seminary Fund Remember the SEMINARY FUND of the Archdiocese of Atlanta in your Will. Be quests should be made to the “Most Rev erend Paul J. Hallinan, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta and his suc cessors in office”. Participate in the daily prayers of our seminarians and in the Masses offered annually for the benefactors of our SEMINARY FUND. God Love You BY MOST REVEREND FULTON J. SHEEN ROME. . .As one sits in Council and looks out over the 2,500 bishops, one sees many ways in which they may be divided—by color, by race, by nation. But if one views them through the prism of poverty in the world, they fall into two classes; the bishops who have "drives” and the bishops who are "beggers". The first group of bishops, when it wants to build a three-million-dollar cathedral or a four-million-dollar high school, sets the ma chinery of a drive in motion and lol the goal is oversubscribed. The other bishops, from mission lands, are the "beggers". Though shepherds, they have no sheep to be sheared. Though pastors, they are without rich parish es. Their hands are mostly open in benedic tion but rarely closed in possession. They are "the tin-cup episcopate" who are driven by poverty to beg from those who have overcome poverty with a drive. The Holy Spirit of love has its own sweet way of drawing both to gether. When a bishop from the United States sits alongside a bis hop who has 7,500 Catholics in a population of ten million, the former feels like Zacheus, who sees he must share his wealth, and the other feels like the Samaritan leper, who rejoices in thanks for the blessings received from his neighbor. There will be a new spirit in the Church of the United States af ter this Council. We from the land of drives daily look on our bro thers in Christ who have nothing. We see ourselves like other Simons of Cyrene, who are compelled to carry the Cross of Christ The Council is laying on us the burden of the African world, the cross of Asia, the poverty of Latin America, the hunger of hun dreds of millions. Where the Gospel says "Simon was compelled", one mightalso say "Simon was driven". So we, who can satisfy our wants so readily with drives, are now driven by the Spirit to help carry the burden of the Mystical Christ in the Church. You good people in the United States, who have been so generous in drives for millions in our rich country, will now be invited to give us less on condition you give the Poor Christ more. "Cari- tas Christi urget nos’’ — "The Charity of Christ drives us." What a great Church we will be in the future through this sharing with th e poor! You can practice this new Spirit now by helping these poor bishops who hold out empty hands daily at the Coun cil. Send your sacrifices to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith. GOD LOVE YOU TOO C.G. for $500. "I have just sold my house without the aid of a realtor, so I can send this amount to the poor of the world.” ...to Mrs. L. H. M. for $10, "Half of this is from what the men called a ‘cuss pot’ from poker games while on a fishing trip. The rest is my own donation." ...to M. N. H. for $10. ”1 won a pool on the World Series; enclosed is a share for the Missions," "May We Be GLUTTED When They are GUTTED?" Learn die answer by reading the special November-December issue of MIS SION. Let us know if you wish to be put on our mailing list for this bi-monthly magazine containing articles, anecdotes, cart6ons and pictures. A subscription is only one dollar. Cut out this column, pin your sacrifice to it and mail it to Most Rev. Fulton J. Sheen, National Director of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, 366 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10001, or your Diocesan Director, Rev. Harold j. Rainey, P. O. Box 12047, Northside Station, Atlanta 5, Ga.