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PftCE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1964
^ Archdiocese of Atlanta
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 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.
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Congratulations!
The congregation of Atlanta’s
First Baptist Church is to be
congratulated on its decision to
admit all to the main sanctu
ary, irrespective of race or col
or. This important step is a ma
jor contribution to the cause of
racial justice, and should be the
incentive for other congregations
of religious bodies to do away
with un-Christian Barriers in
houses of worship.
Major credit for this important
decision should go to the Rev.
Roy McLain, Pastor of the First
Baptist Church, and his Board of
Laymen who requested, and
supervised, the congregation’s
voting on the matter. To many of
the congregation, there must
have been some real soul-
searching, and it must have taken
a lot of courage to repudiate over
a century of tradition and social
custom to drop the barriers. Af
ter all, even though we disagree
with those who perpetuate segre
gation of the races in some of
our churches, we have always be
lieved that the majority of them
are honorable men, even if they
are wrong in their attitudes.
No need in this case, there
fore, to recriminate about the
past; rather, we must look upon
this decision in the light of the
present and the future good of
this great southern community.
We hope the First Baptist step
will be followed by other relig
ious groups which still remain
entrenched in their misguided
beliefs that segregation is some
how justified in Christian teach
ing.
We must constantly reiterate
Pope Leo XIIl’s emphasis on the
fact that “All are equally called
to the adoption of one God and
Father; that all are members of
the same body and all are shar
ers of the divine table; the gifts
of grace are for all, and in the
same way the gifts of eternal
light lie open for all.” (IN PLUR-
IMUS, May 5, 1888).
The First Baptist’s decision
will go a long way to enhance a
faltering image of Atlanta in re
lation to the acceptance of our
Negro brethren as equal
citizens. It should also cause a
re-examination of conscien
ces of the hotel and restaurant
owners who have constantly dod
ged their civic responsibilities in
the area of public accommodat
ions. The hesitancy of these bus
iness men in opening their doors
to all races is a local disgrace,
and must be said to share some
responsibility for the national
calamity of rampant racial in
justice.
Token desegregation and con
ventional quota systems are but
hypocritical acts, which impede
rather than speed complete dese
gregation of public accommodat
ions. We earnestly urge the
hotels and restuarants involved
to put the city and its citizens
before self-interest; to ignore
the political pressure of a repu
diated minority; to be courageous
rather than feartul; to act for the
needs of 1964; to urgently help
Atlanta justify the national repu
tation which it has not yet earned
as the most progressive city on
race rights in the south, and in
deed the nation.
GERARD E. SHERRY
Georgia Traffic Deaths
One of the big problems facing
the State, apart from racial
justice and inadequate edu
cational facilities, is traffic sa
fety. The death toll in Georgia
for 1963 passed the 1,300 mark
and puts the State among the
worst 15 in the nation. We are
among the bottom third.
Nationally, traffic deaths for
the first eight months of 1963
reached 27,200 against 25,900
for the same period in 1962. In
other words, although the mile
age rate (nationally) went up 3%
the death rate went up 5%. Slaugh
ter on the road is increas
ing rapidly. It is a somber thought
that, in comparison, battle deaths
in the Korean war were some
33,000.
Traffic safety and adherence to
the laws of the road are moral
obligations for all citizens.
There has to be an immediate
acceptance of this truth if we are
to ever arrest the appalling car
nage presently being witnessed
on the roads of the State, and
throughout the nation.
Modern highways and modern
laws are concerned with making
our use of the road a safe and
pleasurable occupation, Alas, in
many people they have engende
red a devil-may-care attitude
unbecoming to responsible citi
zenship. We must all cultivate a
deeper respect for others if we
ever expect to reduce traffic de
aths. We will have to realize that
both we and the cars we travel
in, have their limitations; that
speed is a luxury, not a neces
sity; that traffic laws are a bene
fit, not a hindrance.
Many of us would not think of
becoming burglars, embezzlers,
or hold-up men. Indeed, most of
us have a great respect for the
majority of laws on the statute
books. We seem to treat traffic
laws as something different--as
if they are not as important as
the rest of the laws that govern
our conduct. Therein we make
our mistake.
Our conduct on the road,
and our compliance with traffic
laws is as vital to the commu
nity well-being as anything else.
Only when we realize this, and
accept it as a necessary guide
in our conduct as drivers will
we eliminate the frightful scou
rge of traffic accidents. Inthis
new year, we have the responsib
ility to start making Georgia
roads the nation’s safest.
GERARD E. SHERRY
LITURGICAL WEEK
Holy Name Of Jesus
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
SUNDAY, JAN. 5 THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS
According to his original plan, Pope Paul will
be today and tomorrow in the Holy Land, that
ancient, middle-eastern center of world history
into which Jesus came as the climax of a ser
ies of God's mighty deeds for man's salvation.
As we celebrate today's feast of the Name of
Jesus and tomorrow’s great Epiphany, we join
ourselves to our primate-bishop in prayer around
our altars, that this dramatic appeal to the
unity of Old and New Testaments and to the
common discipleship of Orthodox and Protestant
and Catholic may forcefully advance the cause of
the Church’s renewal and reform.
Today’s Mass stresses both
truths. The Gospel account of
J esus * naming and circum-
cision places Him without ques-
Y I tion as a member of that chosen
. f people whose call in Abraham
’S. / and whose Sinai-covenant spell
the beginning of a new spirit-
ual era for the human race.
Entrance, Gradual and Commu
nion Hymns invite to share this
era all the nations, for whom the Jews had been
a sign.
MONDAY, JAN. 6 THE EPIPHANY OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST. The Jordan baptism, the
Cana wedding, the wise men as symbols of the
pagan nations—all manifest Jesus as Messiah-
King Today and on the Sundays following we ce
lebrate these manifestations of His glory as a
proper conclusion to Christmas. We see Him no
longer as Infant.
Accepting the fact that the Son of God really
became part of the human family, one of us,
we at once affirm His Lordship and His King-
ship lest we be lost in merely human senti
ment. The Preface sings of His appearing in
the reality of our mortal nature only to emph
asize that He "renewed us in the light of his own
deathlesseness."
TUESDAY, JAN. 7 MASS AS ON EPIPHANY.
But we sometimes forget that His kingdom "does
not belong to this world." We forget that He is
our Lord and Saviour because He is our Brot
her, because He is fully man as well as truly
God. In forgetting these things, in failing to bal
ance the deeds of Christmas and Epiphany, we
have at times made the tabernacle more import
ant than the altar.
We have turned our churches from sacred as
sembly halls for worshiping communities into
throne-rooms of mere adoration. We have
removed and elaborated our altars until they
become shrines, rather than holy tables for the
celebration of sacrificial meal.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8 MASS AS ON EPIPHANY.
The Incarnation makes His glory our glory, His
Kingship our kingship, His priesthood our priest
hood. First Reading and Gradual Hymn both teach
of a worship which has profound effects on the
worshipers. The glory of the Lord "is upon"
us, "has risen upon" us. It does not remain
purely external, leaving us with nothing but our
awe and wonder. It renews us and is with us.
THURSDAY, JAN. 9 MASS AS ON EPIPHANY.
God’s Word teaches, "Rise up, Jerusalem, and
shine fourth, thy dawn has come." Even on the
purely human level, we identify ourselves
with presidents (as we have keenly felt in re
cent months), with kings and leaders. This is a
psychological identification. But Jesus Christ
identifies us with His kingly glory by renewing
our very beings, by giving us a new birth, by an
interior and real union.
FRIDAY, JAN. 10 MASS AS ON EPIPHANY.
This is why the Church as the great sacrament
of Christ, continues to manifest His Glory on
this earth. Fr. Karl Rahner says, "The whole of
mankind is already in principle accepted for sal
vation in this member and head of mankind. . .
mankind as a whole has become a consecrated
humanity." When we worship, then, we must be
conscious not only of the sacramental presence
of Christ before us, but also of Christ-in-
us, of Christ acting and worshiping in and through
us, of our christened dignity.
SATURDAY JAN. 11 MASS OF ST. MARY ON
SATURDAY. "Not by reason of good works that
we did ourselves, but according to his mercy,
he saved us" (First Reading). Thus the Church,
sacrament of Christ, Epiphany of Christ, shows us
that God’s grace is free and undeserved by en
rolling us, batpizing us, without any merit of our
own. Mary’s unmerited glory, as symbol of faith
and of the Church, as an object of Christian
devotion is one of the ways in which we keep
this Gospel truth before our eyes.
REMARKABLE DOCUMENT
Liturgical Constitution
BY FATHER LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
The Constitution on the Liturgy promulgated
by Pope Paul at the close of the last session of
the Vatican Council is a remarkable document for
many reasons. Not only does it establish a radi
cally changed approach to liturgical worship
but it also illustrates a new and broader self
understanding on the part of the
Church regarding every aspect
of her activity. Its vast impor
tance, along with its relative
simplicity of style and logical
clarity, Indicate that it must be
from now on part of the basic
equipment of every informed
Catholic. (The Constitution on
Liturgy was published in a sufv
plement to the December 12, 1963 issue of
THE GEORGIA BULLETIN).
What is immediately impressive about the new
approach to the liturgy is its completely pastoral
nature. A dozen historical reasons had led us in
the immediate past to a too legal and tradition-
oriented attitude. Unintelligible rites, repititlons
and arcane symbolism were rationalized in the
name of mystery and sacredness. The inmate sac
redness of the action was made the excuse for a
kind of fetishism whereby physical presence
was enough to achieve the ends of worship
and sanctification. The public solemnities of the
Church often became merely a pleasant atmos
phere in which the faithful could pursue their pri
vate devotions. The Council’s Constitution has
struck all this down and has drawn the blueprint
for a sane practice in accord with principle.
THE COUNCIL has acted to create a lit
urgy that is meaningful and effective. The bis
hops, acting as zealous and concerned pastors,
have laid the foundations of a liturgical prac
tice that can speak easily to the mind and heart
of those who share in it. This is the background
of their decision to extend greatly in it. This
is the background of their decision to extend
greatly the use of the vernacular languages in
the Mass and in the administration of the Sacra-
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
RACIAL JUSTICE
Some Source
Material
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
It has been stated that, the basic unity of the
human race is such an absolute truth, that the
minute a Catholic denies it, he has committed
the sin of heresy. The basis for this unity is
claimed to be the origin of the human race in
Adam, its redemption by Christ, and its goal,
which is heaven.
Despite this, we find Catholics as well as others
refusing to accept the doctrine. Some even suggest
that the several statements issued by the Ameri
can Hierarchy in recent years, applying the doct
rine in the fight for racial justice, are merely
political statements, and are not binding. Having
done some research recently on the subject, I
find there is a wealth of source material emphas
izing and justifying our bishops’ stand.
POPE LEO XIII, for instance, made several
comments on the subject, two of which I quote:
”. . .(The Catholic
Church) zealous gu
ardian of the doc
trine of Her Founder
who, by his own
voice of his apost
les, has taught men
about the brother
hood which unites
them all, as issuing
from one origin, as
redeemed by one price, equally called to the
same eternal beatitude. . ." (From the letter
Catholicae Ecclesiae, 20, November 1890, to Car
dinal Lavigerie, on the subject of the Anti-Sla
very work.)
". . . They will feel and understand that all
men indeed have been created by God, their com
mon Father, that all strive for the same ob
ject of good which is God Himself; . . .that all
equally have been redeemed by the grace of Jesus
Christ, and restored to the dignity of sons of
God, so that they are clearly united by the bonds
of brotherhood not only with one another, but
also with Christ the Lord, . . , and furthermore
. . . that no one, unless he is unworthy, will be
deprived of the inheritance of heaven."(From the
Encyclical Rerum Novarum)
POPE PIUS XI said:
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
". . . Then only will it be possible to unite
all in harmonious striving for the common good,
when all sections of society have the intimate
conviction that they are members of a single
family and children of the same Heavenly Father,
and further that they are one body in Christ,
and everyone members of one another’... (From
the Encyclical Quadragesiomo Anno.
"... The will to strengthen and to diffuse for
the common good of human society that brother
hood in which we are all closely united by the
bonds of a common nature and origin has never
perhaps so taken hold of men’s minds asin our
times. . . (From the Encyclical Mortalium
Animos).
POPE PIUS XII went into a little bit more de
tail:
". . . The first of these pernicious errors,
widespread today, is the forgetfulness of that law
of human solidarity and charity which is dict
ated and imposed by our common origin and by the
equality of rational nature in all men, to what
ever people they belong, and by the redeeming
sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the Altar
of the Cross to His Heavenly Father on behalf of
sinful mankind.
"... In fact, the first pages of the Scripture,
with magnificent simplicity, tells us how God[
as a culmination of His creative work, made
man to his Own image and likeness (Cf. Gen.
1/26,27); and the same Scripture tells us that He
enriched man with supernatural gifts and privi
leges, and destined him to an eternal and inef
fable happiness. It shows us besides how other
men took their origin from the first couple. . .
"... A marvelous vision which makes us
see he human race in the unity of one common
origki in God 'One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in us all.' (Eph.
4/6); in the unity of nature which in every man
is equally composed of material body and spiri
tual soul; in the unity of the immediate end
and mission in the world; in the unity of dwell
ing place, the earth, of whose resources all men
can by natural right avail themselves to sustain
and develop life; in the unity of the super
natural end, God Himself, to whom all should tend;
in tie unity of means to secure that end. . . .
", . . It is the same Apostle who portrays
for us mankind in the unity of its relations with
the Sons of God . . .; in the unity of its ransom>
effetted by Christ, Who (is) the Mediator bet
ween God and Man; 'For there is one God, and
one mediator of God and Man, the man Christ
Jesus’. (1 Tim. 2/5). . .
. • to H S hl of unity of all man
kind which exists in law and i n fact men do not
feel themselves isolated units, like grains of
san4, but united by the very force of their na
ture and by their internal destiny. . (From
the Encyclical Summi Pontlficttus).
” . . When however there i s question of an0 _
thei conjectural opinion namely polygenism, the
chiBren of the Church by no means enjoy such
llbq-ty. For the faithful cau nol em brace that
opiuon which maintains eith^ r t h at after Adam
the'e existed in this earth tr* e men w h 0 ^ not
tike their origin through tat ura i generation
fron him as from the first parent of all, or
tha Adam represents a certa ln number of flr8t
patent*. • • (From the ^ C y C n ca i Human!
Geieris).
'“ ch *” *i! ch =hould lay to rest
m that the Chris,... obll ,„.