The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current, January 16, 1964, Image 4
PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1964
., Archdiocese of Atlanta
the
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.G. 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 U.S.A. $5.00
Canada $5.00
Foreign $6.50
Second Class Permit at Atlanta, Ga.
K Of C Advance
There's been some good news
on the racial front here in At
lanta. Among other things, 14 of
the major hotels in the city have
decided on complete desegre
gation. There’s been some bad
news, too, such as the intransig-
eance of most restaurants which
insist that a Negro is unworthy
of their services.
But there’s been much better
news from another part of the
State, and it concerns the Knights
of Columbus. This fraternal or
der of Catholics has taken some
hard knocks of recent date. Some
of its Councils in the North con
tinue to practice discrimination
and have blackballed potential
members merely because of
their race or color. In the South,
hardly any K of C Councils have
had the courage to drop racial
barriers. Now things look more
encouraging.
A new Council named after the
late President John F, Kennedy
was recently formed at Augusta.
Of 63 candidates advanced to
Knighthood, five were Negroes.
Two of the Negroes hold office
in the new Unit. John F. Kennedy
Council 5484 is the first council
of the Georgia Knights of Colum
bus to become integrated.
The Georgia leadership of the
Knights of Columbus has so com
mitted itself to the policy of
dropping racial barriers that
Bernard S. Dunstan of Augusta,
the State Deputy, has transferr
ed his membership to the new,
integrated council. This is indeed
a refreshing change from the
sterile, fearful attitudes of the
past and should breathe new life
into the Knights of Columbus.
We trust that the Knights of
Columbus councils in Atlanta will
take heart from the example of
their brothers in Augusta and will
openly invite and welcome Negro
members into the presently all-
white groups here. There’s noth
ing fraternal about discriminat
ion. Knights of Columbus should
be the first to understand this.
State Deputy Dunstan is to be
congratulated on his courageous
leadership in a matter of such
import to the welfare of both the
Church and the community.
GERARD E. SHERRY
No Bartering Away
It was on the subject contained
in the above editorial that we lost
one of our few advertisers this
week. The brief letter said:
‘‘Please cancel my contract for
any further advertising. I just
don’t see eye to eye with you on
the integration issue. . .”
American and communist - in
spired. They are the same ones
who talk constantly of states
rights, but only for those with
whom they agree. They hold a
totalitarian concept of politics
which is alien to the American
way of life.
Newspapers of all shades of
opinion suffer from such pres
sure tactics. In the summer, this
newspaper survived a concerted
effort by individuals belonging to
an extremist group who tried to
intimidate our advertisers. We
lost only one -- and he seeming
ly believed that only one side of
any argument should be heard--
the side he agreed with.
The people whouse these pres
sure tactics are nearly always
the same ones who condemn
Negro boycotts of segregated
businesses, labelling them un-
We uphold the right of anyone
to express disagreement with our
views, and we welcome construc
tive dialogue with our readers
and advertisers. Alas, we have
no respect for those who use
economic or other un-ethical
pressures to make people bend
to their will. This is a typically
communist or fascist tactic, not
one which is becoming to genuine
Americans. In any case, the
Catholic position on racial jus
tice cannot be bartered away,
even to secure survival.
GERARD E. SHERRY
PILGRIMAGE ON TV
Restoration Of Delight
BY FATHER LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
The miracle of television made millions of us
something indefinably more than spectators of
Pope Paul’s historic Holy Land pilgrimage. The
electronic eye passed on the infectious drama of
the first papal jet flight, the portentous confronta
tion of Moslem king and Hebrew president with the
Vicar of Christ, the near-hysterical fervor of the
crowd at the Damascus Gate, the ecstasy of the
Pontiff's Mass at the Holy Sepulcher, the magnifi
cent embrace of the Patriarchs of Rome and Con
stantinople.
| Watching the incredible crush
of human beings who greeted the
Pope at the Damascus Gate and
who carried him in their midst
along the Way of the Cross, it
was evident that here was some
thing more than acclaim for a
celebrity. Even adding up all
the “firsts” and headline ma
terial, the real explanation re
mained elusive. The calm dignity of the Pope and
one radiant picture of a stunningly beautiful nun
receiving his blessing confirmed the presence of
something Ineffable, something deeper and more
important than mere crowd emotion.
THE POPE’S visit to the source of his faith
struck a responsive chord even in those who do
not share it. The longing for unity and peace is
not an abstract conviction. It exists agaonizingly
in the hearts of millions of men. The sight of
this one noble man detaching himself from the
crowd and making a pilgrimage in quest of this
unity and peace aroused the desire of many les
ser men to share the experience with him. This
was the instinct of the crowd at the Damascus
Gate, as they swayed and jostled and pushed, as
if they wanted to make physical contact with the
slender figure in white who embodied their hope.
A great event was taking place, an event which
they understood and with which they had sympathy.
They wanted to be part of it.
IT WAS ONE of those moments when men trans
cend themselves, E. M. Forster wrote of such
rare instants once, during the second World War:
‘There are moments when each of us, however
feeble, can feel within himself the strong hopes of
the human race, and see beyond his personal death
its renaissance, and the restoration of delight.”
The profound peace of Pope Paul’s smile in the
midst of the frenzy on the Via Dolorosa and, later,
when he gazed into the eyes of the Patriarch
Athenagoras reflected a taste of this deepdown
delight which is in the right order of things as
they ought to be.
Ours is largely a world without heroes. The
authentic hero must be pitted against a more
powerful foe. But the odds, clearly, cannot be
impossible, as they appear to be in our time.
What man can stand against the forces that
threaten our survival? A kind of despairing passi
vity comes over most of us when we face them.
That is why we are aroused at the sight of a man
of courage and imagination who asserts himself
against our common fears. That is why we want to
be part of his experience. And again, that is why
we should absorb what we can of his spirit and
courage and faith.
LITURGICAL WEEK
Christian Unity Prayer
Church At
The liturgy is the Church at
worship. It is our own life at
work in the public worship of God
in union with our Head, Jesus
Christ, It is what St. Paul meant
by his penetrating phrase; “I
live, now not I, but Christ lives
in me.” The layman and the
priest can remain sadly apart in
many areas of life, but not in the
liturgy.
Each of us enters Christianity
by a liturgical act--baptism. We
grow in confirmation and are
nourished by the Eucharist and
the other sacraments. Unless we
are aware of what is going on,
we can reach a dreary plateau
without joy. Our private pipeline
to God, unrefreshed by the living
waters of our salvation, runs dry.
Suddenly (at least it seems
sudden to us now), the Church
is offering modern man his full
share in the liturgy, a role pro
per to his status as a layman,
much of it in his own language
and in his own mode of life. Lit-
urgy will no longer appear to be
the exclusive hobby of a few; it
Worship
is the birthright of us all. It is
the bread and butter of our spirit:
our actions, our efforts, our pre
sence offered to God through the
service of His priest, and, in re
turn, divine grace flowing sacra
mentally through familiar chan
nels into every corner of our
lives. As the first chapter of the
schema summed it up: “The lit
urgy is the summit toward which
all the actions of the Church tend
and, at the same time, the source
from which it draws all its
strength.” This social worship
touches everyone--father, mot
her, child, the worker, the intel
lectual, the dispossessed.
Man cannot live by pure theo
logy alone; he can live only by a
true formation in the life of
Christ. It is not the man just
informed by Christian wisdom
who will survive the pressures
of our times; it is man formed
by Christian faithand grace. This
is the burden of the liturgy, and
accordingly it is the role, task,
and privilege of the modern
Christian to use it.
ARCHBISHOP HALLINAN
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
JAN. 19, SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIP
HANY. Yesterday we began an annual week of
prayer for Christian reunion. And today’s Mass
celebrates in both Gospel and Communion Hymn
the marriage union of Cana as another sign of
Christ’s epiphany, of His manifestation as Lord
of lords. Both have great relevance for this
season, for the Christ, whose coming has been
our theme, is Himself the great sacrament of unity
between God and the human race.
The oneness of God is so perfect that three
Persons possess the very same nature, the very
same being. As mankind at-
' ta* ns deeper levels of unity, it
jUfT \ becomes more God-like, grace
redeeming nature from sin’s
flaws. In the Collect we pray
VL/ for oneness, too, as we ask for
ft < T 1 peace in our time.
MONDAY, JAN. 20, SS. FABIAN
AND SEBASTIAN, MARTYRS.
But the oneness that we seek is
no superficial sameness. It lies in the depths of
the Mystery of Christ, and is accomplished in Bap
tism and the Eucharist. To seek this unity may be
to set oneself at odds with those whose ideal of
oneness is more modest,
“Blessed are you when men hate you. . Jor
the Son of Man’s sake,” says Jesus in the Gospel.
And the First Reading lists the horors endured
by apostles of unity at the hands of their fellows.
So we ask for courage, despite our weakness,
that our guest for unity, whether it be in civil
rights or in ecumenism, may be undaunted by
the enemy.
TUESDAY, JAN. 21, ST. AGNES, VIRGIN,
MARTYR. The enemy is evil, and every man who
has set himself in the paths of evil is against the
unity of God’s covenant promise (First Reading).
But the enemy is also the foolish, the improvi
dent, the imprudent (Gospel), who futilely seek the
Christ without bothering about the means.
Lazily and casually they proceed in some sense
toward the good. They do not take Him serious
ly. They are the weak ones, not those whom the
world holds weak, as today’s virgin-martyr.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22, SS. VINCENT AND ANA-
STASIUS, MARTYRS. Today's Mass, again of
martyrs, again confronts the power of evil, di
vision, dissension. . .confronts it soberly and
without fright. It may be that victories for unity,
for Christ, may be for now only “sparks that
break out, now here, now there, among the
stubble” (First Reading). But they are uncon
querable. Their deliverance is coming, the same
lesson teaches, and then they will shine out. The
Gospel tells us as we pray for unity: “It is by
endurance that you will secure possession of your
souls.”
THURSDAY, JAN. 23, ST. RAYMUNDOF PENA-
FORT, CONFESSOR. More powerful than evil is
the goodness we celebrate in this Mass of a con
fessor. Who has done more than the saints for
the cause of unity, more than any holy, any
thoroughly good man or woman? For the closer
we come to Him who is Love, the closer we come
to our brothers of every, and of no faith.
Where there is perseverance in right reason,
good counsel (Entrance Hymn), freedom from
greed and sinful ways (First Reading), constant
attentiveness to the Master (Gospel)—there is al
ways attraction, desire for communication and,
perhaps for communion.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
MOMENTOUS
Unhooked
Again
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
The U. S. Public Health Service Rep t on ciga
rette smoking arrived at my office ;ull forty-
eight hours too late to have any eect on my
future smoking habits. At ten P. M.ist Thurs
day I finished my usual fourth pa< of the the
day and said goodbye to the habit, rankly, the
advance build-up given the reportvas so well
done that I was scared enough toiuit before I
found how near to death I could be ifhe Surgeon-
General’s findings were true.
The funny thing about all my prevaus a tempts
at quitting smoking is that they’veallsuccfeded—
for a time. I stopped once fortwoyeas; ano
ther time for two months; then six nonhs; and
last year for five weeks. This time it’s gt to be
for keeps.
Some people try to
stop smoking by
cutting down on the
number of cigarettes
each day until they
cut it out altogether.
Alas, this hardly
ever works. Others
try- to be more sub
tle. They buy pills
and tablets from
drug stores which guarantee the killir of the
smoking habit within a set number days.
The pill or tablet makers are quite irrressive
with their testimonials. It seems as iquite a
number of leading baseball players, jlf pros,
and drag racing experts have got r of the
vice of smoking merely by taking dris. How
ever, 1 am convinced that there is>nly one
way to stop doing anything—and tht?s not do
it. Hence, the cheapest and most effee'e way to
get rid of the habit of smoking is no-o smoke.
I realize there are some people m<e virtuous
than myself who find they can’t bre; the habit.
It seems they need cigarettes to calm eir nerves,
ease their tensions, and feel relaxetBut this is
really only an excuse to justify thJnability to
break the habit. We use similar exc^es to justify
all our vices.
REAPING
AT
RANDOf*
%
There is of course a moral angle toallthis. If,
in fact, we are all slowly killing ourstves by
smoking cigarettes, can we justly perp:uating
the habit? I remember seeing in “Amrica”,
the Jesuit National Weekly Review, a san'imon-
ious editorial reflection that if smokin is as
dangerous as is believed, then heads of fnilies
have the moral obligation not to smok This
sounds fine to me, except that it also Ideally
follows that the second-in-command of thamily
has an equal moral obligation. You can cry this
argument all the way through.
Priests and members of religious ores, not
merely superiors, are also obligatedo quit
smoking. This because, if smoking isoing to
kill them before their time, then theyre fail
ing in their duties and responsibilities their
religious orders, which have gone to 'eat ex
pense to educate and train them. The sie could
be said to be true about almost ar*ne any
where.
A newspaper office, be it large r small,
is normally an easy place to identify, .due smog
hangs over the desks, and all the arrays are
full to the brim. We never seem to Re learned
our lesson, however, for I know than awful loi
of journalists have died of cancer the lung,
ulcers, throat ailments and heart tacks. No
body is attributing the demise of m^ fine news
paper men solely to cigarettes, K it’s worth
thinking about.
Naturally the tobacco industry, i eight billion
dollar investment, is not taking the furgeon
General’s report lightly. To its erdit, it las not
attacked the report, even though idoes notaccept
its conclusions as difinitive. Nome canblame
the tobacco industry for this. Afte all, thcisands
of jobs and some three billion n tax rvenue
is involved. The thing that bothirs me s that
the experts who contributed to he reprt are
adamant that, “In view of the contJing and
mounting evidence from many sourc* it is the
judgment of the committee that ciga*te smok
ing contributes substantially to moality from
certain specific diseases and to e over-all
death rate.”
The mortality rate among cigari smokers,
according to one study quoted in t report, is
about 70 percent higher than thatoP n ~smokers.
It added that “The death rates inP ast with the
amount smoked.” When ten emi- n t scientists
come up with such a finding I f- 1 it's time to
quit.
I have marked Thursday, Janu-'Y as ^ a Y
when 1 became “unhooked” f»m the dreadful
habit of cigarette smoking, aftt goodness knows
how many years. As I am windig up these ffcap-
ings, a fellow comes into the office with acar-
ton of my favorite brand. It stims as if Brother
Nefarious is making a valiaitattempt to g t me
“hooked” again. 1 hope I sur/Ve the test, bt the
Brother has some good arguments: the staffhinks
I’m grumpy, my nerves are :ll shattered, Ihven’t
been relaxed since Thursdy evening, and*hat’s
more, lung cancer doesn't strike everyor. The
Brother thinks I’ll get awiy with it, but don’t
know. Anyone want a carton of my favoriterand?