Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1963
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
S«VING GfOUOIA S 71 NOUTMHN COUNTIIS
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
t Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News
\ PUBLISHER - Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan **ts* ^
MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kiernan
2699 Peachtree N.E.
P.O. Box 11667
Northside 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 $5.00
Foreign $6.50
Courage, Conviction
The Sacred Scriptures narrate
that Nicodemus went to Christ by
night. Note that the accent is on
the word night. He was afraid of
being seen and counted as a fol
lower of Christ. The story con
tinues that as morning came Ni
codemus took his leave. Courage
had struggled with conviction the
whole night through. It was only
when he saw Christ crucified that
he had the courage to express
and declare his convictions.
We wonder if there is a par-
rallel between this story and
Christian life today. Will it be
necessary to see Christianity
persecuted and tortured before,
like the Master, we are willing
to stand and be counted?
The late Pope John XXIII cer
tainly is one figure in this Chris
tian era who was willing to stand
and be counted. Literally, “one
sent by God”, Pope John recog
nized the troubles of our times
and convoked a Council aimed at
bridging the great gap separating
Christians all over the world.
Pope Paul VI has dedicated
his life to continue this policy
and the present path which the
Council has taken is aimed at a
mutual understanding between
Christians.
Some people never adjust to
change and most often those in
volved with it have been called
“liberals”, a worn out term so
full of conflicting meanings as to
be meaningless itself.
A change in the Church’s atti
tude, a reexamination of our pious
legacies in the light of the chang
ing reality of contemporary life
became necessary. Not all ideas
advanced in the Council hall will
be accepted, nor will it be neces
sary to change the church’s
structure so that it will no lon
ger be recognizable.
We salute the Council Fathers
who have the courage of their con
victions to speak out and advance
new ideas and new programs.
Time and wisdom, guided by the
Holy Spirit, will determine which
are best.
The Fathers’ actions are proof
conclusive to the world that be
fore a crucifixion of Christiani
ty becomes necessary...they have
the courage to express their con
victions.
Mary And The Council
One of the few instances of a
close vote in Vatican Council II
occured last week whenthe Coun
cil Fathers voted on whether to
have a separate statement on the
Blessed Virgin or to consider her
in connection with their statement
on the nature of the Church.
They voted 1,114 to 1,074 against
a separate statement.
This was not just a procedural
problem. And certainly it was not
a question of voting for or against
Mary s unique dignity as theMo-
ther of God. It was a question of
just what kind of emphasis should
be given to the Catholic doctrine
on Mary at this juncture in the
Church’s history.
Those Fathers who voted for a
separate statement evidently felt
that nothing less than this would
do justice to the fairest of God’s
creatures. Many of the Fathers
in this group doubtless are from
various Latin countries; they are
well aware that devotion to Mary
keeps their people loyal to the
Church.
The Fathers who decided
against a separate decla ration on
Mary seem to have had their eyes
on the Protestant observers in the
Council hall. These Fathers are
keenly conscious that the Catholic
teaching on Mary as it is now ex
pressed is one of the major ob
stacles to the ecumenical move
ment. They recommend an at
tempt to show the reasonable
ness of our veneration of Mary.
They believe this can be done best
by emphasizing her relation to the
Church, thus making it clear that
devotion to Mary, however im
portant, in no way rivals our wor
ship of God Himself. This ap
proach, it is felt, does not down
grade Mary but, by placing her
Close to Christ, brings out her
true story.
Pope Paul said something like
this two months ago in an address
to a gathering of Marian socie
ties in Rome. The correct devo
tion to Mary; he declared, com
mits us to an act of faith in the
basic truths of the Gospel because
of her intimate role in the re
demption; no one can say he be
lieves that Mary is the Mother
of God unless he first believes
that the Son of God became man
and redeemed us.
Keeping Marian devotion in its
proper perspective was under
lined also in a recent statement
in Rome by Archbishop Paul J.
Hallinan of Atlanta: “if Our
Lord Jesus Christ is kept in the
center of the Christian’s life of
prayer and worship, all other
elements appear in their proper
place. Surely the place of His
Mother Mary was made clear by
Christ Himself at the wedding
feast of Cana and at Calvary, by
Mary herself, and should be clear
to all of us. Because she is the
mother of Christ she has a claim
upon our filial love and our pro
per veneration.
But to attempt to center our
religion in Mary, to exaggerate
her cult, to multiply her devo
tions in such a way that Christ is
obscured or forgotten would be a
blasphemy to the Son, an embar
rassment to the memory of the
Mother, and a pathetic deviation
on the part of those baptised in
Christ.”
We like to think that if Mary
herself had been permitted a vote
in the Council on the question of a
separate statement she would
have voted with the majority.
She who called herself the “hand
maid of the Lord” would pre
fer not to stand alone but in the
shadow of her Son and His Mys
tical Body, the Church.
CATHOLIC TELEGRAM
’AND IN THE VERNACULAR ITS... LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER'
REASONABLE deubes DELIBERATE
Patriotism: Part Of Piety
By REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
Patriotism has inspired some of the most bit
ing comment in literature. Samuel Johnson, cal
ling it “the last refuge of a scoundrel." can be
matched and bettered in cynicism several times
over. At the same time, patriotism has tradit
ionally been taught by Christian theology to be a
virtue. St. Thomas Aquinas includes it as part
of the same “piety" because of which we are
bound to honor and respect our parents andfamily.
The enormous gap between this ideal and a good
deal of the practice that has
paraded through history under
the name of patriotism expla
ins the contrast. This parade is
by no means ended; nor are the
complaints on both side.-. Cle
arly, the moral is to tidy up
our ideas and definitions - and,
if possible, do something about
matching practice 2nd prin
ciple.
True patriotism, the kind that is moral rat
her than moody, is concern and committment on
behalf of the political community of which we are
members. If it is to be virtue, it must be reas
onable and deliberate. Chesterton wrote that the
true, even jealous, patriot “is one who sees
the faults of his fatherland with an eye which
is clearer and more merciless than any eye
of hatred, the eye of an irrevocable love. . .".
Patriotism, this piety toward our patria (fat
herland) is not the fuzzy emotionalism pawned
off at political rallies, much less the anti-
everybody jingoism regularly peddled on the ex
treme reaches of the far-right. We have seen
enough nationalist idolatry in our generations to
have developed some immunity to this particular
virus. As John XXIII made so clear in Pacem
In Terris, there is nothing sacred in the notion
of the nation - state. Nationalism has served as
an important stage in the development of west
ern culture and is succeeding colonialism in
much of the rest of the world. To confuse the
moral value of patriotism with the particular
forms of nation-centered society would be a mis
take, especially when our historical evolution
seems to dictate a broader and more flexible
structure to face new needs and new threats.
Nevertheless, the virtue of patriotism, rather
than any of its particular forms, will remain a
component of the moral life. A morally or
ganized civil society will always entail a system
of reciprocal demands between the citizen and
those who wield authority’ over the community.
Patriotism, whatever its form, will be the virtue
which governs the activities of the one and the
other for the common weal. The patriotic citi
zen will be the one who uses his freedom judi
ciously, exercises his rights and fulfills his
duties responsibly. He will demand, as Cheste
rton indicated, that the civil authority deal equit
able with all its subjects and reflect in its poli
cies the moral values acknowledged by the com
munity. Criticism, without ihypocricy or self-
seeking, will remain always not only his most
potent weapon but his most demanding duty.
The object of the virtuous acts of patriotism
is the human society of which we are members.
There is something faintly idolatrous about dire
cting it to the natural resources of that part of
the planet we happen to inhabit or to our mater
ial accomplishments. Seen as a duty to a body of
human beings, patriotism has an immediately
clear relationship to the rest of our moral lives.
This mentality also possesses the advantage of
providing a continuous pattern for our social
loyalties from immediate family to the family
of man.
UTURGICAL WEEK
A Christian
Community
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, TWENTY-FOURTH
SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST. (Lessons and
prayers today from the 6th Sunday after Epip
hany, rest of proper from last Sunday.) The
First Reading describes the effective witness of
a Christian community, a community so enliven
ed by the Word and Sacrament it celebrates that
it is corporately the mustard seed and leaven
of which the Gospel teaches.
of our Sunday morning pu
worship exclusively in term
our own good as members ol
community of prayer or eve
terms of the good of the Chi
throughout the world, with wl
the Eucharist unites us.
The worshiping community
is a sign and leaven for the
neighborhood in which it carries
on its liturgical thanksgiving. The vitality of its
worship, its God-centeredness, the faith engen
dered by the living Word it shares, the love and
peace of its Communion—these are forces more
powerful and pervasive, at least ultimately, than
political and economic programs, important as the
latter are. How much more immediately power
ful they could become if our consciences were less
individualistic and more ecclesial, more aware of
the reality of the Mystical Body.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18 DEDICATION OF
THE BASILIC .AS OF THE , HOLY APOSTLES
PETER & PAUL. “Here is God’s tabernacle
pitched among men" (First Reading). Again
this tabernacle is not a building but a worship
ing community—in the concrete, the parish. The
community’s house of worship is a symbol of
itself, as the altar in the midst of the assembly
is the symbol of Jesus Christ.
This is why the church building is important
Not because it signifies the local dominance or
at least presence of some kind of spiritual em
pire, but because it tells the neighborhood (ideal
ly in a beautiful and gentle and humble manner
that there is an assembly of believers in its midst.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, ST. ELIZABETH,
WIDOW. Although this community is properly
called the community of salvation, not all of its
members will be saved. At the end of time the
wicked will be separated from the just (Gospel).
It is the community of salvation because it is the
agent of Christ’s continuing action in the neighbor
hood and in the world. It breaks the Bread of His
Word and in its sacraments Christ acts.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, ST. FELIX OF
VALOIS, CONFESSOR. The “just man" flourishes
because he is planted in “the courts of the house
of our God" (Entrance Hymn), because he is
planted in the Church, because he is of the
worshiping community. It is to this community
the Gospel is addressed: “...for it has pleased
your Father to give you the kingdom, as this world
must know it, around this altar, in this Eucharis
tic gathering.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, PRESENTATION
OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. As Virgin
Mother, Mary has been hailed since the earliest
ages of the Church as symbol of the holy com
munity whose baptismal font is the place of our
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>
ROME DATELINE
Old City, But
A New Climate
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
ROME-ITALA —— One has to be here only one
day to understand that the Council is the major
news in this Italian Capital. Everyone is still
talking about it even if the sessions appear to be
quite dull to folks back home.
This city hasn’t changed at all. The traffic is
still a mess and pedestrian mortality rate still
high. It’s surprising because the Italians are by
nature a most courteous people. It’s true they’ll
try to make a fast buck at the expense of the “fo
reigner" but they go about it so pleasantly that
you hardly feel it at all. _
As soon as I land
ed here, the passport
officer noted the
word “Journalist’’
and immediately said
in quite good English
“You are here to
cover the Council, I
presume." Upon my
affirmative answer
he remarked that he hoped it would help the peo
ple as well as the Church. This has been the gist of
the hopes and longings of quite a number of Ita
lians I have spoken to in the past couple of days.
They get very good coverage in their own news
papers, although the news is often embellished
with sensationalism.
Covering the Council is quite easy, once you get
the necessary credentials. Like any other area of
life, forms have to be filled in and photos provid
ed. I was told that only those with official creden
tials could attend the briefing sessions, and the
various background talks given daily to corres
pondents from all over the world. I have mine,
but in the first two briefings have not been asked
to show them. Some of those who have been here
since the beginning inform me that their creden
tials have never been requested. You aren’t sup
posed to apply for them unless you get re
commended by an official source. Buerocracy
knows no boundaries.
The hotel I’m in has bishops and newsmen from
all corners of the world. Italian is hardly spoken,
but you frequently hear pidgin English, French,
German and Spanish bandied about with abandon.
Everyone is friendly and newcomers are made
welcome at the dinner table and in the private
“bull sessions." The latter go on all the time, all
over Rome. There is a constant dialogue between
bishops, and between bishops and laymen. I’m told
many prelates have modified previous adamant po
sitions after having been exposed to several of
these private dialogues. This is all to the good, be
cause it furthers the aim of unity and lessens
many obvious tensions on critical issues.
The major topic of Council discussion at the
week-end concerned the schema on Bishops and
the Government of the Dioceses. Whetherwe like
it or not, there was some heat displayed on the
subject by several of the Fathers. Some say it
was the “hottest" session of them all so far.
They refer, of course, to the divergent views of
Joseph Cardinal Frings of Cologne and Alfredo
Cardinal Ottaviani, Secretary of the Holy Office.
Cardinal Frings was very critical of the Roman
Curia. He said it was "out of date", had been un
just, unfair and “causes scandal" by its alleged
autocratic way of action. He added; “No Ro
man Congregation should have the authority to
accuse, judge and condemn an individual who has
had no opportunity to defend himself."
Cardinal Ottaviani got up to protest what he
termed a “condemnation of the Holy Office."
He denied Cardinal Frings* charge of unfairness
and scandal and said that all decisions are pro
mulgated after only after careful consideration by
competent consultors and specialists. He remind
ed the Fathers that criticism of the Curia re
flected on the Holy Father, who is Prefect of this
Sacred Congregation. Several other Cardinals and
Bishops entered the fray, both for and against the
two major positions outlined. The sequel to this
session didn't turn out too badly, if one American
bishop is correct in his information. He told me
the same evening that Cardinals Ottaviani and
Frings left the Council Hall, arm in arm, and in
animated conversion. It could be.
One important observation can be made on all
this. At home, a layman or priest who expresses
the opinions being expressed by the Council Fa
thers, would be looked upon as an agitator, speak
ing out of turn - “flouting authority" is the favo
rite term used to try and silence those who speak
out. It’s good to realize that even “authority"
has its doubts on many matters, and that plain
speaking is becoming the fashion.
There is another important result from the
“fresh air" that is sweeping through the mind
of the Church; extremist positions are being ex
posed for what they are. There was a time, in
the not too distant past, when any politically
motivated nut could make an accusation against a
fellow Catholic and the accused would have to
prove the charges wrong. From the few discus
sions I’ve already had here with bishops of all
shades of opinion, the extremist nuts who mail the
half-truths and innuendo, are going to get short
shrift. Most of their material will end up in waste
paper baskets, even here at the Vatican.
One of the greatest scandals, I think, has been
the attention some bishops have given the extre
mist propaganda which passes over their desks
in abundance. I recall one case in which two lay
man were penalized by a bishop, on no other
grounds than that the Political Extremists didn't
like their views. Their protests got nowhere, even
though they were libelled publicly by the extre
mists. To quote the bishop involved: “Silence is
dictated in the interest of the Church." Since
when has any injustice been in the interest of the
Church?
This latter question is one of many presently
being debated by the Council Fathers. Justice will
obviously prevail; but it would be more Christian
to have it applied here on earth as well as in the
hereafter. This second session of the Council is
at last getting to the heart of some matters of
great Import to the faithful as well as as the
L‘ shops. 1 hope to fill you in on them in die coming
few weeks.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM