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RACfi 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1964
FAMILY LIFE
SHVtNO 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
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Second Class Permit at Atlanta. Ga.
Pilgrim’s Progress
Pope Paul Vi’s triumphant
visit to the Holy Land is des
tined to have an impact on the
world-wide quest for religious
unity and peace among nations.
His very role as a penitential
pilgrim to the Land of Christ
has of itself set the example
for us all.
The separation of the various
Christian communities can never
be accepted as permanent. Yet.
neither can we expect complete
unity in our time. Still, Pope
Paul chose the time of this mo
mentous pilgrimage to extend the
hand of love and friendship in
the interest “that all may be
9 9
one .
His meeting in Jerusalem with
Ecumenical patriarch Athena-
goras, is but one step along the
unity road. Pope Paul himself
set the style and manner for all
of us in our contact with fellow
Christians. He said, “Diver
gence of a doctrinal, liturgical
and disclipinary nature will have
to be examined, at the proper
time and place, in a spirit of
fidelity to truth and of under
standing in charity.” But, he
said, “What can and must now
commence to develop is that fra
ternal charity, which is ingenious
in finding out new ways of show
ing itself, which, taking its les
sons from the past, is ready to
pardon, more ready to believe
good than evil, careful above all
to conform itself to the Divine
Master and to allow itself to be
drawn and transformed by Him.”
Pope Paul, however, empha
sized that w hile the Church is
willing to make reasonable com
promises in the cause of Christ
ian unity, it could never be at
the expense of truth. Fraternal
charity in current dealings bet
ween Christians is obviously the
need of the hour.
No better show of gratitude and
thanks to God for the successful
pilgrimage of Pope Paul could be
expressed than if in each of our
actions in our community life we
follow his example. Let us get
to know our fellow Christians
better; let us extend the hand of
love and friendship in our deal
ings with them; let the sincerity
in mutual sympathy and under
standing. Then we will all be as
pilgrims in the quest for unity.
No better time than now to be
gin. Within the next ten days we
will be observing the Chair of
Unity Octave (January 18 -25)
which is a prayerful crusade for
religious unity. It is also a call
for our own spiritual renewal
without which we cannot be ef
fective in our daily apostolate.
Indispensable Function
In a rightly ordered democra
tic society, political censorship
of information and opinion is con
sidered to be unrightful, unwise,
imprudent. The reason is that
free public information and free
dom of opinion are considered,
rightly, to be social necessities.
Within the Church, the press
is not to be forwned on or a nui
sance to be simply tolerated. The
qest of information by the press
about what goes on within the
Church is not an exercise in idle
curiosity. The dissemination of
information by the press is not a
AN ALTAR BOV
NAMED "SPECK"
-** H
Do you have any holy mackerel?
form of indiscretion. Inasmuch
as the Church is a society com
posed of men, the function of in
formation is indispensable.
The function of information in
a well ordered society cannot be
responsibly discharged unless
this function is free in the man
ner of its discharge, not subject
to arbitrary limitation.
The Catholic press may not be
simply the organ of a particular
class, as it were, within the
Church, whether hierarchical or
lay. The press does not exist
simply to further the interest of
the Church, especially if these
interests be conceived in some
narrow, quasi-sectarian sense.
The press does not exist simply
to glorify the Church, in Some
Madison Avenue sense; that is, in
the current jargon, to project a
“public image' of the Church
that would be unreal or untrue
to the actual reality of the pil
grim Church.
The freedom of the press is the
indispensable condition of its
performance of its function, its
social function, which is the
information of the people. The
freedom of the press to inform
is simply the other side of the
right of the people to be infor
med. Therefore, the freedom of
the press knows at bottom only
one limitation; that is, the limits
of the people’s need to know. And
of that need, and its limits, the
people themselves are the re
sponsible judge.
JOHN COURTNEY
MURRAY, S. J.
Challenge to Mankind
LITURGICAL WEEK
Holy Human Family
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
SUNDAY JAN. 12, THE HOLY FAMILY. Since
God's Definitive Word in Christ calling humanity
to glory, the “holy family" is the human family.
But to draw our full attention to the humanness
of Jesus, to His acceptances of us and of our hu
man condition, the Church celebrates in modern
times this feast of His family and of His childhood
and adolescence and youth.
The joy to which the Entrance Hymn invites
His parents must be the joy of all who claim a
human nature, of all those who see in Him the
sign of that calm and dignity which God has
laid on humankind.
The temple references, in Entrance, Gradual
and Offertory Hymns, as well as in the Gospel,
hymn the Christ in His very being as our Head,
our mediator, our High Priest in the worship
of the Father.
MONDAY, JAN. 13, THE BAPTISM OF OUR
LORD. Man is not in this world as a kind of
accident. He belongs here, even though his ulti
mate destiny lies beyond. TTie
„ Genesis mandate to master the
earth and make it serve the hu
man community still stands. Sin
crippled that mastery as it
crippled our relation to the Fat-'
her and to one another.
Today Jesus reclaims the
waters, makes them again a
means of life and symbol of
purity, asserts His divine
authority over lesser creatures as well as man.
"He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit,"
says the Gospel, seeing in the material world
a sacramental world.
TUESDAY, JAN. 14, ST. HILARY, BISHOP,
CONFESSOR, DOCTOR. It is this same Holy Spi
rit, with His gifts of wisdom and understanding,
who makes the great teachers of Christ’s Church.
"You are the salt," "you are thelight," Jesus
says to those born out of the water He has
sanctified.
Commitment and te life of the Spirit, rather
than human flashes of genius (though the two
are not necessarily incompatible), are what
constitute a teaching ministry of "sound doctrine"
(First Reading) such as we honor today.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 15, ST. PAUL, HERMIT.
Christ is our Head and our High Priest. All of
our worship is "through him and with him and in
him." Hie First Reading today hymns the excell
ence of the knowledge of Christ, going so far as
to contrast the knowledge of anything else on
earth as "refuse" incomparison with the knowled
ge of Him.
The exaggeration should not blind us to the
truth which it contains. For the Gospel also
affirms that coming to know Christ is the means
of knowing the Father and the Father's love. It
is incomparable.
THURSDAY, JAN. 16, ST. MARCELLUS, POPE,
MARTYR. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God," rings out the familiar Gospel of the
Mass in honor of pope. It is this declaration of
faith which the hierarchical structure of the Ch-
urchexists to serve and which the Church’s litur
gical services make vital and life-giving for the
concrete Christian community here and now.
The sacraments are all signs of faith, especially
the central sacrament of the Mass, recalling us
constantly to these familiar, simple words, to
Peter's declaration.
FRIDAY, JAN. 17 ST. ANTHONY, ABBOT,
"Blessed are those servants whom the master
shall find watching" (Gospel). Knowing Christ is
not like knowing a thing—once we know it we
can turn our attention elsewhere. It is rather
entering into a personal relationship and aper-
sonal commitment.
Watchfulness, then, is a theme wich the New
Testament and the Church’s public worship use
again and again in impressing upon us the com
mitted personal character of the relationship of
faith.
SATURDAY, JAN. 18, MASS OF ST. MARY ON
SATURDAY. "Justified by his grace," (First
Reading) we see in Mary the symbol of us all,
of the whole community of salvation which is
the Church. Her freedom from sin and her
assumption into glory are signals of God’s mercy
and His grace toward mankind.
Every Mass celebrated in her honor is thus
an especially vivid thanksgiving for redempt
ion in Jesus Christ, expressed in terms of lavish
praise for what God has done in her.
SOUR SOCIAL FRUIT
Prejudice: A Dirty Word
BY FATHER LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
"He had but one eye," Mr. Squeers explains
in Nicholas Nickleby, "and the popular prejudice
runs in favor of two." Anyone
who would doubt the correct use
of "prejudice" in such a con
text must argue’with Charles
Dickens. And anyone who doubts
that prejudice may actually ex- 1
tend so broadly is either naive
or dishonest. Mankind is pre
sently much concerned with the.
sour social fruit of prejudice
many other lands. Simultane
ously, we see greater effort being expended to
defeat prejudice and to create unity than ever
before. This loathsome and all too human fault,
which spawns disunity, discrimination and perse
cution, deserves some examination.
Prejudice means literally prior judgment,
judgment which precedes the evidence and is
formed on some other basis, Since it is not
hampered by factual evidence, prejudice begets
unjustified generalization. For example; John is a
Jew; John is dishonest; all Jews are dishonest.
The essential element of prejudice is that it
is irrational, not reasponed and, frequently, rea
son-less. Where legitimate judgment, the primary
action of intelligence, is motivated by a reason
ed assessment of reality, prejudice is moti
vated by one or more considerations in
ferior to reason. It may be an instinctual
emotional reaction, pre-conditioned by fear or
social custom. Almost always, ignorance of
one kind or another, plays its role in some weird
counterfeit of a positive force. The attitude or
deed which arises from such a source can hard
ly fail to be wide of its mark, morally.
It is important to note that prejudice does
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
Status Symbol
In Reverse
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
A great deal is being said and written these days
about family limitations and birth control. Fur
thermore, it is not confined to the secular periodi
cals. Just recently, several Catholic magazines
have had articles and letters on the subject with
the size of Catholic families being one of the bones
of contention. Here are some views on die subject
which I have been looking for an opportunity to
express.
One of the greatest difficulties in this area of
discussion has been the inability of many priests
and laity to face the fact that while the principle
end of marriage is
the propagation of
life, there are two
other essential ends
to it, that of mutual
help between the
spouses and the
quieting of con
cupiscence (Civardi
— Christianity and
Social Justice).
THE PULPIT STRESS on the "principle end"
has led many lay people to the false impres
sion that the only good Catholic families are
those which contain a large number of children.
It further implies that those who have small
families are somehow not quite Catholic enough.
Very little is heard from the pulpit of the many
other considerations that must come into the re
gulation of Christian families. Continence, for in
stance, can Be a virtue in marriage, yet is is
seldom suggested, except for those with medical
or economic difficulties. Furthermore, the
rhythm method is often treated as if it was
just above the level of sin, and inexcusable for
most healthy couples. The usual advice to couples
worried over their inability to care for or to face
the prospects of a large family is to leave it to
God and His plans for them. Father John A.
O'Brien of Notre Dame, a recognized expert in
the theology of this subject, recently com
mented on this line of reasoning. He said:
"How does a couple know God’s plan? By using
the intelligence with which God has endowed them.
In the ordinary course of the divine economy,
Providence does not suspend the laws of nature
nor work in other miraculous ways. When a fertile
couple continues the conjugal relationship into the
fertile period, they must assume the responsibility
for the resulting pregnancy and not thrust it upon
God.
"THIS IS ELEMENTARY Catholic theology and
it is high time our religions in schools and priests
in pulpits should make this unmistakably clear.
When a couple regulates the number of offspring
with true Christian prudence, largeness or small
ness is totally irrelevant."
Father O’Brien’s comments bring into focus a
problem which is daily being faced by Catholic
couples. There does not appear to be enough con
sideration of it among the groups to which Catho
lics must look for help and guidance. The Family
Life Bureau of the National Catholic Welfare Con
ference seems to emphasize Its position on the
problem. Its annual Family Life award always goes
to one of the nation’s large Catholic families.
Maybe the Bureau’s interpretation of "familylife
excludes small families; but I think they make a
big mistake. There must be a better standard of
judgment than that. While many couples do regulate
their families — and in conformity with the
Church’s teaching — they are not necessarily less
deserving or virtuous than those of large fami
lies. There are even childless couples, unable to
have children for a variety of valid reasons, who
must still be considered among good Christian
families.
ANOTHER GROUP WHICH has always bothered
me is the Christian Family Movement. We were
once associated with one of its units, but after
awhile decided to quit — not that we disagreed
with many of its aims. Alas, the main symbol of
membership in this unit appeared to be that one’s
wife was constantly pregnant. I am not trying to
be funny here, but that is the way It was. I know
that officials of the CFM will deny that the move
ment is so narrow in its alms; but here again I
can only go by experiences I have had. Certainly,
the broad aims of the CFM cover all aspects of
family life* There should be an end to the propa
gation of the false idea that there is an official
Catholic position on the size of families.The sanc
tity of marriage is too important to establish a
numbers norm. T o quote a recent letter in Ame
rican by Richard A. McCormick, S. J.:
‘The Church has too much respectfor the sanc
tity of marriage, the happiness and sanctification
of the individual couple, the individual conscience,
the operation of the Holy Spirit and the well-be
ing of the children to propose an absolute, quan
titative norm of largeness or smallness as some
thing to which all or most couples should aspire.
This absolute mentality would compromise the
very values she regards as essential to both
marriage and conjugal love.
“RATHER THAN PROPOSE a quantitative ideal,
the Catholic Church explains all aspects and values
of Christian married life and love, and proposes
these as the essential structure within which the
individual couple should make its own decisions.
The Church does not and cannot make the decis
ion for the couple. But from an enormous ex
perience sh e realizes that the characteristic
threat to such a decision is an inversion of values,
and her emphasis often reflects this awareness."
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