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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1964
EUGENE CARSON BLAKE
4 New Cooperation’ Of Churches In Race Crisis Urged
The following is the text of
an address delivered in Chicago
last Thursday by Dr. Eugene
Carson Blake upon receipt of the
John F. Kennedy Award of the
Catholic Interracial Council of
Chicago.
and spiritual renewal.
Tonight I want to talk to you
about each of these.
I
There are a number of rea
sons why I am deeply grateful
for the high honor you have paid
me by giving me this year the
John F. Kennedy award. Some
of these reasons are quite per
sonal. I am proud to be listed
with the distinguished Ameri
cans who have received your
award before me. I prize the
friendship shown me by distin
guished national leaders of your
Church as we have worked to
gether this year for freedom
and justice for all Americans:
Mathew Ahlman, Father John
J. Cronin, and Archbishop
O'Boyle, to name but three.
Certainly a part of the rea
son I am here tonight rises out
of the initiative taken by the late
Pope John XXIII in calling Vati
can Council I! ana the amazing
accomplishments of the first
two sessions of that council.
I am conscious of the fact that
some critics, both within your
Church and outside it, are wor
ried at what they Judge to be ex
cessive slowness of concrete
accomplishments of the council,
especially at its second session.
I am glad to have received
this honor in Chicago in the
suburbs of which 1 live with
my parents for several years
and attended the New Trier
High School for a part of my
education. Of the public hon
ors which have come my way, I
assure you that this one means
and will continue to mean a
great deal to me personally. I
thank you all mo3t warmly.
I DO NOT pretend here to set
myself up as an authority on the
council, thus to try to answer
such critics substantively. But
I do wish here to testify that
the results already evident from
the initiative taken by the late
and universally beloved Pope
John toward "the separated
brethren” are very great and
most promising in ecumenical
relationships even if the coun
cil were to find itself unable to
agree upon one more schema—a
result in my judgment highly un
likely.
One of the Roman Catholic
representatives was a distin
guished professor of theology
from the faculty of Fordham
University. In the course of
the discussion, he recounted to
us his early school experiences
in Los Angeles half a century
and more ago. In his delight
ful Irish brogue, which in this
company surely I shall not at
tempt to imitate, he told us that
in the elementary public school
which he attended, he was the
only Roman Catholic whom any
of his schoolmates had ever
known or seen. He concluded
his reminiscences with this re
vealing sentence: "Even after
all these years, I find it ex
cessively difficult to get over
my minority point of view,”
S
TRANGE BUT TRU
Little-Known
By M. |. MURRAY
Facts for Catholics
E
centers equally in the great
cities of the North and in the
old Confederacy.
Copyright. IMS. N.C.W.C. N«w» Service
THERE ARE, however, two
reasons for my gratitude of a
less personal and of a more
symbolic and general signifi
cance about which 1 would like
to speak to you tonight. Here in
the heartland of the United
States, in this Midwest where I
was born and raised, this occa
sion symbolizes and makes con
crete the new ecumenical re
lationships between the Roman
Catholic Church and the other
Christian churches, which rela
tionships I believe are of cen
tral importance in the history
and the future of the Church of
Jesus Christ in all the world.
And in the second place, this
occasion marks and symbolizes
a new cooperation of churches
and synagogues in the public
life of our beloved nation which
can, under God, make a signifi
cant contribution to its moral
MONTHLY .
PEST CONTROL!
4 SERVICE
Every Protestant Christian,
member, minister, theologian
and administrator has been al
ready forced to examine him
self, his attitude toward the Ro
man Catholic Church and toward
his own church as he prepares
himself to respond to the new
opportunities for dialogue that
Roman Catholic initiative in the
past few months and years has
opened before him.
Let me not be misunderstood
as romanticizing our new situa
tion as some tend to do. There
are theological differences so
important and fundamental that
no one, Protestant or Catholic;
should suppose some quick or
easy unity can be established.
Furthermore, there are cul
tural traditions and patterns of
thought among both American
Protestants and Catholics that
will be almost as stubborn and
hard to handle as true theolo
gical differences. All of us can,
however, begin to change our
attitudes and cultural patterns
of thought even though theolo
gically we wish to be most wary
and conservative.
I mention this not to exhort
you to get over yours, if you
have one, but rather to remind
you that we Protestants have as
hard a job transcending the at
titudes we picked up in our early
years. For whether I like it or
not, I speak to you as a WASP.
We are thus described in the
slang of our Negro friends. Do
you all know what a WASP is?
A WASP is a white, Anglo-
Saxon Protestant. Forgive me
if 1 reminisce about my early
years in order to give you a
little insight into my problem.
j sP ftlN
|N THE HIGHLIGHT Of THE CHRISTMAS
CELE&RATIONS COMES ON JANUARY 6?
-the day of the kings, when age-old
CEREMONIES nonoring magi are
•Held throughout the country .
$T.PUDENT/ANAi. ONE OF ROME'S
FIRST CHURCHES) was founded
BY Pius l in 14-5 ad. and enlarged
200 YEARS LATER. A CONSIDERABLE
PART OF TUE EARLY BUILDING IS STILL.
INTACT.
PERFECT
EXAMPLE
OF
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH EMBROIDERY-
THE SCENE DEPICTED ON IT IS THE
Martyrdom or ST thomas or CantirBury
I WAS born in the West end of
the City of St. Louis. My father
and mother were both Presby
terians, my father a layman,
but early chosen to be an or
dained elder and a pillar of our
Presbyterian church, A half
century ago St. Louis was the
fourth largest city of the na
tion and, despite a few street
names which revealed its
French origins, was a white
Anglo-Saxon Protestant city
with some Negroes, and with a
large German minority, similar
to Cincinnati or Milwaukee,
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' Filled
38qUARTO
VOLUMES,
INCLUDING
TREATISES ON LOGIC.
MATHEMATICS,
ETHICS AND
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
as well as Biblical
AND THEOLOGICAL WORKS.
THAT WAS MY complete per
sonal dialogue (one-sided at
that) with the Roman Catholic
Church, except for the fact that
for a short time we had an Irish
girl in our house as a cook, who
told my mother in my hearing
that she liked to go to Mass
early because at the 11 o’clock
Mass the priest used the ser
mon time to scold all present
for not having come earlier.
Pelasgians, Wesleyans, as well.
All this was preliminary to pre
senting the Calvinist truth on the
doctrine being expounded.
Most of the German popula
tion lived on the South side and
as- I grew up I was completely
unconscious of the presence of
Germans in St. Louis, at least
until World War I began. I know
now that such a large German
population made it certain that
there were a great many Roman
Catholics and Lutherans about.
But what I want you to realize
is that, for me growing up,
these Churches were nonexis
tent. That is not quite true.
My parents were pot bigoted
people, 1 remember to this day
my mother teaching me how
fine and generous were the Jew
ish people and that she never
wanted to hear from my lips any
anti-Jewish word.
With this as my background,
do you wonder that I find it
sometimes difficult in fairly
assessing a Roman Catholic
position on any moral or spi
ritual concern? The interest
ing thing for us all to remem
ber is that each in his own way
had the same kind of sectarian
background, however universal
or catholic his church claimed
to be.
m,< *'X2r£h
roochas
LAST SPRING I attended a
small meeting in New York
where a dozen Catholic and Pro
testant churchmen were met to
discuss a problem of mutual
interest-^pne of the multitude of
such meetings that are spring
ing up across the land like
crocuses in March of early
April.
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There was a large gray stone
church at the corner of Maple
and Goodfellow Avenues that I
knew to be Catholic. Next to it
was a gray stone house, grim
and mysterious to a small boy,
in which some priests lived. I
would probably never have seen
them to notice them, except that
their yard was a most conven
ient short cut from my house
to the public school. A friend
and I each day faced the temp
tation as to whether we would
walk one half block south, and
one block east, and one quarter
block north to the Dozier School,
or whether we would run one
half block due east and arrive
breathless, having trespassed
across the Roman Catholic pro
perty, where the housekeeper
seemed never to fail to see us
and to scare us by shouting out
that we should keep off the pro
perty.
But Catholics, we of the ma
jority then did not think about
them. Again the only thing I
can remember my mother say
ing was with regard to Catho
lic Sunday habits. In our strait
laced Puritan tradition, she said
"Catholics go early to Mass on
Sunday, and then they do what
ever they want the rest of the
day." It wasn’t until some
years later, after reading the
essays of G. K. Chesterton,
that I even knew there was ano
ther side to that argument.
It was against this early back
ground that I studied theology.
The chief textbook for syste
matic theology in my seminary
was that of Charles Hodge. It
was a learned book—but it is its
form of presentation of truth to
which I wish to refer.
The ecumenical movement (in
its modern form) now scarcely
50 years old, has begun to
change all that. And the recent
climax of this movement re
vealed Itself after the first ses
sion of Vatican Council II, when
Father Sheerin, editor of Cath
olic World, was able to come
home from Rome and say:
"Counter-Reformation theolo
gy is finished.” By which he
did not mean that Roman Cath
olics had fundamentally changed
a single dogma, but rather that
the day is ended for any Chris
tian to state the truth in nega
tive terms against other Chris
tians’ positions.
ON EACH dogmatic topic,
whether Revelation or Atone
ment, or whatnot, first came a
series of descriptions of all the
heresies of 1900years of Chris
tian history: Marcon, the Gnos
tics, the eastern Orthodox, etc,
St. Thomas and the Roman Cath
olics were generally included in
this list of wrong positions.
Usually also the Lutherans,
What we must all now learn
to do is to state Christian truth
positively. For the world will
not listen to a gospel nor be
converted by it, which consists
so much as it has in our im
mediate past of exhortations
about the errors of other Chris
tians. And in a world where
atheism and agnostic human
ism is increasingly the intellec
tual fashion.
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Priests Banned
In Dublin Talk
judgment.
THE ISSUE has been drawn
sharply by the American Negro
community, 20 million strong,
which is making it clear that
American Negroes do not intend
to accept any longer second
class citizenship, second class
educational opportunity, second
class economic position, second
class housing, nor finally sec
ond class treatment in public
accommodations.
THOSE WHO believe in God
and honor his Son, Jesus Christ,
need to make that positive af
firmation plain and to welcome
it from other Christians how
ever strangely they preach and
practice their religion.
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LONDON (NC)--Two priest-
consultors to the Second Vati
can Council were banned from
lecturing in Dublin, according
to a story in the Catholic Her
ald.
Every Pilgrimage Accompanied by
A Spiritual Director
55
The paper says in its Jan.
17 issue: "It was suggested
that the (Dublin) archdiocese
itself was responsible for the
prohibition on the two priests,
Father Gregory Baum, O.S.A.,
and Father John Courtney Mur
ray, S. J.”
to address was planned origi
nally for University College,
Dublin. "The allegation that
Father Baum had been 'pre
vented* from addressing this
meeting was made by the audi
tor of the college's literary and
historical society', Mr. Anthony
Clare, in an article in the peri
odical Hibernia," the Herald
states.
It is true that white Chris
tians and Jews have as yet done
little to persuade other Ameri
cans of their sincerity in this
matter, but I remind you that the
civil rights movement has been
cradled in Christian churches,
mostly in segregated Negro
Christian churches, also—but
in Christian churches.
Still too much is the effort a
clerical effort of ministers and
priests and rabbis.
Still too many ordinary white
lay members of churches and
synagogues have failed to take
the decisive first step to fol
low their ministers and priests,
their bishops and rabbis.
Their position is clear and as
months go on with sufficient
change in the segregated racial
pattern of life in the United
States, it will become more
clear. American Negroes are
no longer satisfied to be kept
out of the main stream of Ame
rican life because of the color
of their skin, the form of their
features, or the texture of their
hair.
The national crisis is a sim
ple one. With this determination
on the part of a minority of 20
million Americans, the pattern
of relations between Negroes
and whites is going to change.
It is going to change relatively
quickly. The Attorney General
and the late President perform
ed an important service for the
nation last year when, after the
riots in Birmingham, they be
gan to make it clear that the
issue before the nation is not
whether there will be a new
pattern of race relations. There
will be a new pattern. The is
sue is not when there will be a
new pattern. There will be a
new pattern relatively soon.
The issue is rather how the
new pattern will be established:
violently and with coercion, or
voluntarily and with public or
der.
ALL AMERICANS ought to be
thankful that the leaders of the
Negro people have caught their
vision from their Christian
Faith. Philip Randolph is not
merely a union leader; he Is the
son of a Baptist preacher and
his values and morals were es
tablished and fashioned long ago
in a manse where prayer and
Scripture were the home atmos
phere. Martin Luther King is a
minister of the Gospel. We can
thank God his eloquence is es
sentially Biblical and is direct
ed toward love and not toward
hate.
This is the chief significance
of this gathering here tonight.
A Catholic lay movement dedi
cated to the Christian and
American ideal of equal justice
for all menl Can you not feel
how much I am honored to be
here with you?
AND WE are met here in
Chicago where you cannot do it
alone ; and where Protestants
cannot do it alone; where Jews
cannot do it alone; and where
humanists of good will cannot
do it alone; ■„ and where minist-
ters, priests and rabbis—even
bishops and archbishops can
not do it alone.
Rcy Wilkins, James Lewis,
Whitney Young, James Farmer-
-these are Christian men who
were produced out of a Chris
tian culture. All of us gathered
here may take hope as well as
pride in this.
do it alone; and where minis-
THE NATIONAL choice is be
tween a new pattern of race re
lations in harmony with the
Constitution-of the United States
on the one hand, and the per
manent alienation of 20 million
Americans from the Ameri
can dream on the other. If
the nation is unwilling to re
spond voluntarily to Negroes’
rightful demands, I see no hope
for this nation.
Finally, on the positive side,
note that at last the movement
of civil rights itself has begun
to be desegregated. On Aug. 28,
1963, the high point of the volun
tary movement for freedom and
justice was reached as over
200,000 Americans gathered
between the Lincoln and Wash
ington memorial monuments in
the capitol city of the nation.
Sixty thousand white Americans
marched with 150,000 Negro
Americans, peaceably assem
bled to petition for the redress
of their grievances, — their
common grievances. From that
day the civil rights movement
was no longer a segregated
Negro movement. This is good.
The crucial front of the battle
for racial justice in America
is in the great industrial cities
of this nation. Our politicians
cannot and will not solve this
problem without the rising of a
lay movement of men of faith
who are willing to risk place
and position, influence and pop
ularity for righteousness’,
sake.
We are not promised success
by our Lord when we follow Him
into the city’s streets. But we
are promised His presence, and
His blessing, whether it be
cross or crown, awaiting us as
we follow Him. May then the
Grace of God come to us as
with our Negro brethren, and
all men of good will, we dedi
cate ourselves to tills great
task.
BUT NOT enough white
Americans have yet committed
themselves to act and march in
harmony with their highest faith
and patriotism.
Still much
Negro effort.
is the effort a
Furthermore, it appears to
be true that the nation will not
voluntarily accept this new fair
and equal pattern for all races,
unless the Christian churches
and the Jewish synagogues of
the nation take the lead In
persuading their members that
we face a moral and spiritual
issue which no religious man
dares evade.
This leads us to the religious
crisis in the nation that is
parallel and related to the gen
eral social crisis which I have
been describing. Our common
religious crisis is this: Will the
influence of faith in God, and the
practice of that faith, be in fact
toward the solution of the racial
crisis, or against it? Will the
churches and synagogues lead
in achieving a right and moral
solution to race, or will they
reluctantly adjust too little and
too late to moral forces theydo
not recognize as such and so
lose their opportunity to be
the moral, leadership of the
United States and of the free
world for that matter?
John F. Kennedy
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And this ecumenical move
ment has come just in time for
our American scene. As we
move from a dominant Protes
tant culture in America to a
pluralistic society, all churches
will become irrelevant to the
important decisions of that so
ciety and that culture unless
they become more interested
in what they believe and in whom
they believe, then what and
whom they are against. For the
line of belief and unbelief stret
ches around the world and
everywhere the Church of Jesus
Christ, however strong in num
bers and organization, is yet
fighting for its life.
I am Calvinist and Chris
tian enough to believe that God
has not lost control of His
world, but I read nothing in
Scripture or Tradition that as
sures the continuance of our
civilization under the provi
dence of God if we fail in faith
to rise to the moral demands
of our God who is just.
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FATHER MURRAY, a theolo
gian at Woodstock (Md.) Col
lege is one of four theologians
who were excluded by the Cath
olic University of America,
Washington, D. C., from taking
part in a campus lecture ser
ies during Lent last year,
ies during Lent last year.
Father Baum is a theologian at
St. Michael’s College, Toronto.
But Clare "reiterated," ac
cording to the Herald, the fol
lowing: "Both Father Murray
and Father Baum were pre
vented from speaking w ithin the
Archdiocese of Dublin.”
Olympic Priests
The best illustration of this
for Americans today is the
sharp issue of race which has
brought us here tonight. Let
us look squarely at the race
issue in which your Church and
mine are similarly involved and
which demands from us a new
kind of cooperation with each
other, with the synagogues, and
with all Americans of goodwill.
WHAT I AM saying is that the
religious crisis in this nation
is a true crisis. Two possibi
lities open up before us, and it
is not yet clear where the weight
of religious influence will be ex
erted, Let us look at what is
encouraging and what is dis
couraging, as we examine this
sharp issue.
First note that the religious
leadership of the nation is unit
ed on this issue. The state
ments of theologians, of bis
hops, of synods, of church as
semblies, all agree that no man,
or group of men, should face
discrimination because of race.
©
The Catholic Herald says the
meeting that Father Baum was
INNSBRUCK, Germany (NC) —
Fifteen priests will be on duty
as chaplains at contest sites
for the Olympic winter games
to be held in this area Jan.
29-Feb. 10, They will wear
as Identification a pectoral
cross over their sports garb.
11.
1 begin with a truism, but one
which needs repeating. The
United States faces at the be
ginning of 1964 an issue, es
sentially a moral and spiritual
Issue, national in scope which
Second, note that the leader
ship of the movement to right the
wrongs of the Negro people is
Christian leadership. Some
critics of the churches have
made a good deal of the slow
ness with which the churches
hAve come forward in this ef
fort. But that is a segregated
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