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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