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EUGENE CARSON BLAKE Says Mr. Kennedy Ended ‘Catholic President’ Fears Philadelphia (RNS) —The "high significance and sym bolic meaning" of the late President Kennedy's scheduled appearance here before the tr iennial General Assembly of the National Council of Churches was not completely lost even in the slain Chief Executive’s ab sence. The young President was vivid in the memory of some 3,000 delegates, observers and consultants and several thous and visitors at special worship services, MR. KENNEDY would have been the first President, as well as the first Roman Catholic nat ional leader, to address an NCC GENERAL MEETING. The service was conducted by Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, chief executive officer of the United Presbyterian Church in the U, S. A., and Bishop George W. Baber of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, First Dis trict, Philadelphia. In his meditation, Dr. Blake asked the assembly to "pray to God that by his sovereign pow er He will now use us all to tr ansform a death into new life, and a monstrous wrong into a great new right." The late President's appear ance, Dr, Blake said, would have had great significance for both the ecumenical movement and the campaign for racial ju stice. HE SAID that even in his sh ort time in office, Mr. Kennedy made it "abundantly clear that those who had feared, for any reason, a Roman Catholic Pre sident had misunderstood both the man and his Church." cuses we had given for delay, and the shape of the new world in which we found ourselves in 1963, demanded an effort to ch ange our racial attitudes and to amend our racial practices hardly short of a voluntary re volution." Mr. Kennedy's recognition of the racial question as a moral and spiritual issue," Dr, Blake said, was "perfectly evident," "HIS COMING here. . .would have symbolized the fact that beyond all partisan differences and transcending all theological divisions, there was a call to all Christians to act for jus tice in faith, in courage and in love." The Presbyterian leader said he wojld not attempt to explain "why the Almighty has permit ted this dark cloud of tragedy to come upon us all." Instead, he asked for prayers that "this young President's life and dea th will be used among us, who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. . ." Gov. William W. Scranton of Pennsylvania, who also partici pated in the service, noted "sa dly" that he no longer had the opportunity to welcome Pre sident Kennedy to his state and paralleled the assassination with the death of Abraham Lin coln. IN SPITE of great changes in society, he said, the "eternal warfare on the forces of tyra nny" continue and the continu ing task for Americans is to strike it down. The governor recalled that in the turmoil of Lincoln's day, he rallied the nation to the cause of union by appealing to the common sense of the people, "America will survive so long as we have leaders of the people who use as their guide lines the people's common se nse," he said, "While politic ians and lawyers discuss the legalistic fine points of civil ri ghts legislation, the tyranny of prejudice is doomed because the American people In their deep common sense realize It is wrong, "Today, 100 years after Abr aham Lincoln, , .and within a few weeks of the death of ano ther martyred President, let us resolve to keep faith with the memory of the men who had such great faith in us as a na tion. If we but do that, this nation, under God, will have a new birth of freedom. , .shall not perish from the earth," BISHOP Baber gave a moving benediction, praying that Pre sident Kennedy did not die in vain, that his death may bring a "new dignity to man and a moving forward toward the full brotherhood of man." "We earnestly ask thy for giveness for the evils of hate, arrogance and austerity that continue to plague this day's stream of humanity," he pra yed. "In grief we also plead for forgiveness for the evil hand shining hour of history," A total of approximately 9,000 persons attended the me morial service, which included a concert by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and The Singing City Chotrs. TEACHING STAFFS "John Kennedy by his actions as President demonstrated that he was indeed a good Catholic, but more — that his kind of Christianity was a strength ra ther than a handicap to his ser ving the whole people of the whole nation under the Consti tution and under God." As the Second Vatican Cou ncil has provided strong and "welcome" impetus for the ec umenical movement, Dr. Blake said, the late President's ap pearance here "would have cl early symbolized the beginning of a new era of hope for Ch ristian cooperation in the United States. ..." ^ On the racial issue, he said, "President Kennedy was one who first saw that the slow ad vance towards justice, the ex- "Buy Yuur si.x From klu' k MAX MRTZEL. OwQir MAX'S MEN'S SHOPS !S«P4 Prachtrw tnduatrUl Blvd. Chamblte Shopping Canttr Phone 431-1911 973 Peachtree. N.E. Phone TR 4-95*2 — At 10th Bt. MOTOR HOTEL' • TV * AIN COMOITIONiNO • FAMOUS v.AM. BUPPiT • Cl A , b *< e -3 « STATION! • eONPCC MAKRNi KACH NOOM I til. K II • v I t < INI A Gaud ut All.a Many More Laity In Grade Schools WASHINGTON (NC) -- Lay teachers in U. S>, Catholic grade schools now make up 3273 of the teaching staff, a new study has disclosed. This compares with 9% ten years ago. In five U. S. dioceses, lay teachers make up 50% or more of the elementary school teach ing staff. The highest ratio in the nation is 60% found in both New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La. THESE FIGURES are report ed by William D. Pflaum, a graduate student at the Catholic University of America, in an article in the current (Novem ber) issue of the Bulletin of the National Catholic Educat ional Association. Pflaum say that in the 1962- 63 school year there were 111, 312 teachers in Catholic ele mentary schools, 35,571 of them lay teachers. HE NOTES THAT there was a drop in the number of Sisters teaching in elementary schools between 1961 and 1962, In 19ol, there were 78,118 Sister-teachers, but the/next year that figure dropped to 75,741, he says. # THIS DROP TOOK place, he notes, even though the total number of Religious teachers did not decrease. In 1962, he says, the number of Sister he says, the number of Sisters totaled 173,351, as compared to 168,527 in 1960. Pflaum said a variety of ex planations have been given for the decline in the number of teachers. He described these explanations as "probably valid in some degree," but said that "the relative importance of each has not been established," "ONE EXPLANATION," he writes," is that more thorough training given to Sisters in re cent years has slowed down the flow of new teaching Sisters from motherhouses to class rooms. "Another explanation points out that most of the Sisters professed during the past several years were born between 1934 and 1940, a period of low birth rate in the nation. Consequently, it is held that a decline in the number of new ly professed Sisters was to be expected at this time, "A THIRD explanation states that greater numbers of Sisters have been going to the foreign missions, especially Latin America, and that greater num bers have also been engaged In social work and hospital work, teaching in high schools and serving full time with the Con fraternity of Christian Doct rine." In addition to New Orleans and Eaton Rouge, other dioceses reported to have more than 50% of the grade school teaching staff made up of lay people are: Lafayette, La„ 52%; El Paso, Tex,, 51%} and St, Au gustine, Fla,, 50%. The diocese reported to have the lowest ratio of lay teachers is Worcester, Mass,, with 7%, Legate Named VATICAN CITY (NC) — Am- leto Cardinal Cicognani, papal Secretary of State, has been named Papal Legate to celebra tions in Tarragona, Spain, marking the arrival of St. Paul in that country 1,900 years ago. ARCHBISHOP PAUL J, HALLINAN is shown as he blessed the new classroom building at D’You- vllle Academy last Sunday, The Archbishop was assisted by the Very Rev, Harold J. Rainey. Chancellor of the Archdiocese, at the left, 3 GENERAL ASSEMBLY National Council Puts Stress On Race Rights PHILADELPHIA—The sixth General Assembly of the Na tional Council of Churches un animously approved the broad est racial program in its his tory and called for a congres sional speedup on civil rights. Congress could undermine the faith of the American people in the capacity of its political in stitutions to function," as well as world confidence in this cou ntry’s committment of free dom, the resolution said. ing, public accommodations, and labor unions. —Churches work for "recon ciliation" in communities di vided by racial issues. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 12, 1963 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGL 3 STALLED PROGRAM Christians, Jews Back Rights Law WASHINGTON, D. C. (RNS) — Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish representatives th rew their support behind a ma jor move to take civil rights legislation out of committee and place it on the House floor for a vote. In a statement Issued here, father John F. Cronin, head of the National Catholic Wel fare Conference's Social Ac tion Department, hailed the Na tional Council of Churches'call to Congress to take every step neeeasary to insure the earliest possible passage of the bill, "1 WELCOME the news of the National Council of Churches' action," said Father Cronin. The priest added that he would be in the House gallaries with James Hamilton, the NCC's Washington represen tative, on Dec, 9 when a dis charge petition will come up on the bill. Also with Father Cronin and Mr, Hamilton will be Rabi Ri chard C, Hirsch, who said he wouid be there in his capacity as director of the Religious Ac tion Center, an agency of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rab bis. Father Cronin said his de partment will continue to coop erate with all religious groups in the civil rights struggle, THE PRIEST’S comments came as two major Catholic groups — the National Council of Catholic Men and the Natio nal Council of Catholic Women — Also backed the move to get the bill out of committee. They sent telegrams to their atflli- ates urging a response in sup port of the discharge petition, Frank Heller, head of the NC CM, said that the civil rights legiilation was "at a crucial point," He asserted that "Cat holic support is vital to suc cess," His message went to 72 diocesan councils representing a total of 8,000 ,000 Catholic men, A similar message was sent by Margaret Mealey, executive director of the NCCW, to that group’s 150 diocesan councils which have a membership of 10,000,000 Catholic women. The discharge petition needs 218 signatures to bring the bill out of the House Rules Com mittee for action on the floor. Delegates to the triennial meeting of the church federat ion urged Congress "to take every step necessary" to pass the civil rights bill. THEY ALSO CALLED on all Christians to write, phone or wire their congressmen asking them to support a discharge pe tition aimed at getting the rig hts bill out of the House Ru les Committee. And in their 10-point racial Justice program, they advoca ted across-the-board dese gregation of churches and ch urch institutions, selection of pastors and church workers without regard to race, and ex penditure of church funds only with firms that do not practice discrimination. THE DRAMATIC actions on racial Justice highlighted the meeting that brought together some 5,00 delegates repre senting 31 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox denominations with 41 million U. S. members. Official Catholic and Jewish observers also attended the convention. Two of the observers, a Ca tholic priest and a Jewish rabbi, hailed the National Council of Churches’ stand on civil rights. Msgr. Daniel Cantwell, chap lain of the Catholic Interrac ial Council of Chicago, and Ra bbi Irvin Blank, chairman of the Social Action Committee of the Synagogue Council of America, said they hoped members of their churches would also start a letter-writing campaign to Congress, The church council moved to implement Its civil rights stand by sponsoring a bus trip by some 80 delegates (Dec, 6) to Washington to press individual congressmen for a speedup. Following the dose of the con vention (Dec, 7) other delegates returnedhome by wayof the ca pital city for the same purpose, THESE EFFORTS went ahead despite news of assurances by House Rules Committee chair man Rep, Howard W, Smith of Virginia that the Ryles unit wo uld act on the civil rights bill in January, The Rev. Robert W, Spike, executive director of the Na tional Council’s Commission on Religion and Race, expressed skepticiam and said: "If there had been evidence that Congress was moving, this resolution would not have been necessary. "MURDERS, BOMBINGS, assassinations have made this a year of horror—and of fate ful decision. Relying on the Ho use Rules Committee to bring the civil rights bill to the floor of Congress early next year is a gamble," the Rev. Spike sa id. The General Assembly reso lution on Civil rights legislat ion said "the eyes of the wor ld are upon the American Con gress. "FURTHER DELAY BY the The 10-point race justice program voted by the General Assembly urges that: —Every church be open to all, regardless of race. —Pastors and all church workers be selected without re gard to race. —Church camps, dubs, con ferences and meetings be ope rated on an interracial basis. — Church schools select ma terial pointing up "the Chris tian's responsibility in the st ruggle for racial justice." —Boards, staffs and clien tele .of church-owned hospitals, homes and welfare agencies be integrated. —All contracts for church construction include fair emp loyment practices clauses. —Churches invest funds only in enterprises that have no ra cial discrimination policies. —Churches support Federal, state and local legislation guar anteeing equal rights in voting, education, employment, hous- THE GENERAL ASSEMB LY’S traditional "message to the churches" stressed racial justice and the ecumenical mo vement. It said Christian churches now must either "profess or deny Christ" in their atti tude toward racial justice. The message also referred to the "new climate of dialo gue" between Catholics, Ortho dox and Protestants. It said: "Conscious of the deep divisi veness and wide diversity which mark our several traditions, we thank God that He is leading us to discover ways by which these divisions can be healed and this diversity be brought within wider forms of unity." ONE OF THE FIVE Catholic observers described himself as "very impressed" with what he had seen and heard at the meeting. Msgr. Joseph N. Moody, cha irman of the social science de partment at Ladycliff College in Highland Falls, N. Y., said the assembly had put "tremendous emphasis" on racism "as a problem of the time for the ch urch." SOEUR SOURIRE Belgian Nun Is NEW YORK (RNS) — The most popular recording artist in the U. S, today is Soeur So- urire, the smiling Sister of the Dominican convent of Ficher- mont, Belgium. According to three record tr ade journals, the songs of Soeur Sourire, whose real name is Si ster Luc-Gabrielle, are now at the head of the best-seller list. Her songs, in French, have a folk-type quality, THE MOST popular of the tw elve songs in her album, 'The Singing Nun," is "Dominique," a joyful ballad about the foun der of her order. As a single disc, "Domini que" has sold more than 750, 000 copies since October. The full album has had a sale of 600,000 and is expected to top the million mark by Christmas. Soeur Sourire, who composes the music and words to her son gs, accompanies herself on a guitar she named Abele. She bo ught the guitar in Brussels as a last purchase before enter ing the gates of the Fichermont convent in 1959, The young singer was a stu dent of decorative arts in the Belgian capital when she dec ided to enter the Dominican or der to become a missionary nun, IT WAS IN the convent that her gift for music was discov ered. In the evening, after stud- Singing On TV ying or working in the field, the other sisters gathered to hear her songs of faith. Soon, she was asked to record them. With permission of her superiors, Soeur Sourire went off to Brussels to make a pri vate recording of her songs. The stuido technicians were so impressed that they asked her to allow them to issue the record ing to the public, Later, the Dominican order signed a contract on Soeur So- urire’s behalf. There were two conditions: the nun would never appear in public and the recor ds would never carry her real name. Almost immediately her songs became a hit in Europe and it was expected they would be greeted with some suev-ess in this country, TO DATE an estimated $100, 000 in royalties from the re cordings have gone into a spec ial fund for Dominican missi onaries. Meanwhile, Soeur Sourire Is studying advanced catechism in preparation for a missionary assignment in an underdeve loped area. She is slated to ap pear Jan, 5 over the Columbia Broadcasting System on the Ed Sullivan Show. Mr. Sullivan said he has ob tained permission to tape the performance in the Fichermont convent. THREE VOLUMES New English-Latin Breviary Is Ready Ttie Liturgical Press, Col- legeville, Minnesota, has pub lished The Hours of the Divine Office in English and Latin, which contains the complege text of all the Hours of the Roman Breviary. The Latin portion follows verbatim the text of the latest Vatican enditio typica; the English portion is given in parallel columns. All of the rubrics are given in English only. Apart from the Scripture portions, most of the English sections are new translations. The Psalter is enriched with explanatory notes. THE EDITION CONSISTS of these three volumes, each with approximately 1,900 pages. Each volume is printed in red and black, has five ribbons and soft, flexible binding. Volume One covers the period from Advent to Passion Sunday; Volume Three from August to Advent. Volume One is sched uled to appear during Decem ber, Volumes Two and Three during the first part of 1964. The new publication is to be sold as a set only anil the price of all three volumes is to be $33.00. This means that the books will be sent only to sub scribers who pay the full sub- scriptions may be placed through local bookstores, or at the publication office, the Lit urgy Press, Collegeville, Minn. Subscription is on a ten-day trail basis, with the privilege of returning the first volume for a full refund. COGGINS SHOE STORL SHOES FOR THE FAMILY 46 W. PARK SQ. MARIETTA, GEORGIA PHONE 428-6811 NELSON RIVES REALTY INC. 3669 CLAIRMONT ROAD CHAMBLEE, GEORGIA REAL ESTATE, INSURANCE SALES, RENTALS RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY PHONE: 451-2323 C & S REALTY COMPANY "Specialists in Commercial and Industrial Real Estate" Suite 200 Henry Grady Bldg, Atlanta 3, Ga. 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