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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1964
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
JftVINO GiORGIA'S 71 NO»THMN COUNTIfS
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
^£59^^ Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News
^JjjjjpF PUBLISHER - Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry CONSULTING EDITOR Re/. R. Donald Kiernan
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The Common Good
Passage by the House of stiff
Civil Rights legislation is
an encouraging step in the quest
for racial justice. It is to be
regretted that not one of Geor
gia's Congressmen was courage
ous enough to repudiate the out
moded theories of the past. Not
one voted for the passage of the
measure.
And while a majority of the
nation’s lawmakers were facing
up to their responsibilities, the
Atlanta Restaurant Association
continued .negative .reaction on
discrimination in public accom
modations. Their full page ad
in Tuesday's Atlanta daily papers
was replete with trite cliches
out of the past and no longer
suited to the needs of a vital
metropolis.
Especially disappointing was
the stand of Congressman Welt-
ner of Atlanta. He told the house
that racial prejudice is immoral,
and discrimination is contrary
to American principles - yet
he still voted “no!" He said
h e was loathe to impose legis
lation “in areas which were
clearly the sphere of individual
action."
The Popes have stated time and
time again that individual rights
are not absolute; neither are
State’s rights. There is no
“right" that can be exercised
to perpetuate a “wrong".
Restaurant owners who insist
on their individual rights at the
expense of Negroes'Civil Rights
are, in our opinion, wrong, and
are repudiating their social and
civic obligations.
If there was ever an area in
which the common good cried out
for dominance over pride and
prejudice, it is in the area of
race relations. If the restaurant
owners demand that society re
spect their individual rights,
then surely society has the
obligation to also protect the
rights of those whom some res
taurant owners discriminate
against.
It is obvious that the owners’
refusal to voluntarily open their
establishments to Negroes will
speed the enactment of legis
lative coercion. Let it be stat
ed quite clearly; the Catholic
Church has always justified State
intervention in the use of property
when the common good is at stake.
Indeed, Pope Pius XI in the ency
clical “Quadragesimo Anno",
while defending private owner
ship, insisted that the State had
“I don’t care if you were only kidding—
you are not tc say, ‘Finders-Keepers’ !**
not only the right but the obliga
tion to intervene if the welfare
of society was threatened. He
said:
“It follows from what we have
termed the individual and at the
same time social character of
ownership that men must con
sider in this matter not only their
own advantages, but also the com
mon good. To define these duties
m detail when necessity requires
and the natural law has not done
so is the function of those in
charge of the state. Therefore,
public authority under the guid
ing light always of the natural
and the divine law, can deter
mine more accurately, upon con
sideration of the true require
ments of the common good, what
is permitted and what is not per
mitted to owners in the use of
their property."
This stand on property rights
was reiterated by Pope JohnXXIII
in his encyclical “Mater Et
Magistra". The Pope made it
clear that property rights have
an individual function in providing
the needs of the owners; but he
said there is also a social func
tion in providing for the needs
of others in the community.
Pope Pius XII in an address to
Italian pilgrims inOctober, 1956,
emphasized that “While the
Church condemns every unjust
violation of the right of private
property, she admonishes, how
ever, that it is not unlimited
nor absolute because it has pre
cise social obligations."
Bishop Luigi Civardi, in his
book, Christianity and Social
Justice, points out that Catholic
teaching on private property
“holds a position midway bet
ween the communistic doctrine
that would suppress every right
of individual and private pro
perty, and the secularist Doctrine
that does not recognize its due
limitations, thus justifying un
just inequalities."
Government intervention thr
ough legislative action to enforce
civil rights for our Negro citizens
is to be regretted. We wish
it was not necessary. Alas, the
failure of individuals and groups,
including some restaurant own
ers, to fulfill their social obli
gations to the community, has
made such legislative coercion
necessary.
Indeed, the failure of those who
embrace exaggerated individual
ism to reform themselves has
often accelerated the advance of
Communism and Socialism. The
Alliance for Progress program
in Latin America is hindered by
such people.
It is still not too late for those
restaurant owners concerned to
back away from the extremist
view. Nothing can be gained by
the present intransigence of
those restaurant owners who re
fuse to serve Negro citizens.
Much can be lost in honor and
dignity. There is still time for
honorable men to save face by
affirming the preeminence of the
common good in the civil rights
struggle.
GERARD E. SHERRY
cooperation
CHURCH
■■I. "I ■ imammmrnn ■ f'M
SEPARATION j
RECOMMEmAIML
The Nun In The World
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
DEAR Sisters:
I address this to you in the hope of recom
mending a book I would like to believe every
one of you will study. (Let’s be honest; 1 am
trying to recommend it to every priest and
layman zealous for the progress of the Church.)
The book is THE NUN IN THE WORLD by
Cardinal Leon Joseph Suenens, one of the
Church’s leaders in the movement for reform
and progress.
Beyond all shadow of doubt, you good Sisters
(how tired you must get of that tired, impersonal -
phrase 1) are the best-loved
group in the Church. You teach
love our children and we
love you for that. You care for
when we are old and sick,
and we love and thank you for
You represent by your
very demeanor of modesty, an
ideal of Innocence we have lost
or feel unable to attain. You
cannot doubt - please never
doubt - our love.
AT THE same time, many of you must feel
that far too wide a chasm separates us from
you. I am not speaking of those who have no
faith. They cannot conceivably begin to under
stand your motivations, the secret of your
dedication, the purpose of your sacrifices.
This, in inself, is too bad. If only they could
understand you, how strong would be their
curiosity to know your Spouse, Christ, and
your Mother, his Church?
What is far more tragic is the distance
that separates you from the lives and under
standing of us, who share your faith and mem
bership in the same Churchl This must pain
you more than you allow us to see. It cer
tainly distresses many of us, who would like
to see a closer and more effective relation
ship between you, the clergy and the people
of God, for whose sake everything in the Church
exists.
I AM NOT referring to the necessary se
paration from the “world” that springs from
your vows. To criticize that would be to cri
ticize the very concept of the religious life.
There appears, however, to be an added and
unnecessary separation from the “world”, that
impoverishes us and you, and lessens the bene
fits you wish to bestow and /ve need to rece
ive. One very practical and obvious indicat
ion of this fact is the growing shortage of
vocations, to which Cardinal Suenens refers.
Enough discussion of this subject has taken
place already to make it public knowledge.
IT IS, AFTER all, the “world” that needs
to be saved. That is the primary imperative
of all baptized Catholics and, more so, of the
priest and nun. You did not need to become a
nun in order to be a teacher or nurse. You
became nuns in order to bring Christ to people,
concrete people, real people in other words,
to the “world”, Any other reason is beyond
understanding. This is why any obstacle that
blocks your effectiveness in bringing to bear
on thev “world” the tremendous force of your
spiritual potential ought to be discussed intelli
gently and with candor. Clearly, this discuss
ion will have to begin in the convents. But,
let us take part, too.
Cardinal Suenens writes: “The religious of
today appears to the faithful to be out of touch
with the world as it is, an anachronism.”
Many of you recognize this and I know it dis
tresses you. How often the laity skirt sub
jects, ideas, issues, problems that would be no
source of hesitation among mature, modern
people. You are not less than adults. You
enjoy - or should- the glorious freedom that
Pope John joyfully remined us was our birth
right. A brilliant letter from a nun to a Catho
lic jounal suggested “a dialogue between lay
man and nun based on a mutual realization. . .
that the work of God . . . can be fully effec
tive only when Christians work together for
its accomplishment.” There is only oneaposto-
late. The total talents and energies of all are
required. Let us make it a three-way dialogue:
nun, priest, layman.
CARDINAL SUENENS says, “redressing the
pastoral balance must begin by 'converting the
priest to the laity.” Congregations of religious
need a similar conversion; they must believe
in the priesthood of the faithful. Thereafter
they will better understand the capital impor
tance of the part they have to play in inspir
ing the laity.”
One more quotation from the Cardinal: "What
is a religious? ... A modem woman - not
one of the eighteenth or nineteenth century -
who has dedicated her life to God for the sal
vation of the world through the congregation
to which she belongs.” It’s a very good book.
I hope you read it.
I am, dear Sisters, very respectfully,
A friend.
UTURGICAL WEEK,
Lent-A Baptismal Retreat
BY REV. ROBERT W. HOVDA
FEB . 16 1st SUNDAY OF LENT. Lent, as
a baptismal retreat, as a time of penance for
our rejection of baptismal grace, has the air
of a contest about. Psalm 90, the Tract between
today’s readings, pictures man a pilgrim in a
hostile land, rescued only by God’s hand.
Jesus, in the Gospel, shares this aspect, too,
of man's existence. He deliberately experiences
temptation, confronts the power
of evil, that He might inspire
with confidence in His victory:
“Away with thee, Satan,”
The First Reading warns us
that this contest does not make
sense to the unbeliever, who
cannot understand our pre-
ocupations. The two enemies
of evil and indifference are in
combat with the Christian's
commitment. To the first our answer is firm
and decisive, like the tatlons. To the second we
respond with pity and patience, with the qualities
enumerated in the First Reading.
FEB. 17 MONDAY, 1st WEEK IN LENT.
The theme of the Good Shepherd and of fraternal
love today mark our Lenten combat or con
test as distinctively Christian. We have no doubt
about God’s intent: “I mean to go looking for
this flock of mine, search it out for myself”
(First Reading).
Nor have we any doubt about the basic moral
response demanded of us: "Believe me, when
you did it to one of the least of my brethren
here, you did it to me” (Gospel).
So we do not embark on our Lenten penance
as men uncertain of their goal, or even as yien
uncertain of the means to the goal. We know what
to attack: the only uncertainty in the picture—or
wavering desire, our fickle hearts.
FEB. 18 TUESDAY, 1st WEEK IN LENT.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
SCOUSERS
Too Much
Beatlemania
BY GERARD_g. SHERRY
One of the most depressing events in the recent
history of these United States has been the invas
ion of our shores by the Beatles from England.
They have been crawling all over the newspapers
and the television screens screaming about want
ing to hold somebody’s hand and mispronouncing
“yes” ever so often.
The nauseating thing about it all is that they
are being paid for it. Four young Liverpudlians
who have perfected some ancient tribal beat, and
have had it accepted as music, entertained the
nation on Sunday night’s Ed Sullivan show. It
was quite a performance.
These Scousers'
(another name forwe
Liverpudlians) look
ed every bit the nuts
they acted like. Un
ruly, dust-mop style
hair is their hall
mark, as is the cur
ious tribal wailing
and musical sounds
appropriately entitl
ed "beatlemania.” The shaggy heads of the
Beatles gave a picture of the unreal and, per
haps, the unknown.
ED SULLIVAN looked every bit the calm im-
pressario, unsmiling and serious, in his intro
duction. He acknowledged that extra police were
needed to control the beatlemaniacs, both within
and without the studio. He thanked the police com
missioner and everyone else who had a hand in
making a live telecast of the Beatles a success
ful and memorable performance.
The audience in the TV studio consisted of
some 800 (persons?). Certainly the majority con
sisted of hysterical teen-age girls, whose parents
ought to talk to them quite seriously. The squeals
of these girls was more in keeping with an in
vasion by mice. The empty, gaping expressions
of these beatlemaniacs, as they appeared on the
screen, caused one to wonder if we are not really
“going to the dogs,” in being devoured by beat-
les.
CATHOLIC education was surely enhanced by
. the frequent camera shots of girl members of the
audience in obvious Catholic school uniforms.
And if this was not bad enough, the U. P. I.
quotes a Miss Kathy O’Neal, sweet sixteen and
all that, as follows: “I think they are absolutely
divine. We love them.” With a name like that,
and living in New York, she is probably a Catholic
girl.
It is not that I think that our Catholic teen
agers should not like rock-and-roll, or have a sin-
ger, or a group of singers, as their idol. But
there should be some signs of maturity by the
age of sixteen; there should be by this time a
cultivation of tastes in many areas of life; there
should be standards sought which go beyond alleg
ed Humans with dust-mop hair and tribal gyra
tions, unbecoming to our civilization. All in
all, the American teen-age reaction to the Beat
les bolsters not only the need for federal aid
to public education, but also to that of our private
schools as well.
SOME WILL argue that the teen-age girls of
1964 act no worse than did the female swooners
of the Sinatra era of 1944. Others, however,
will point out that the Sinatra of 1944 epitomized
the clean-cut American boy who, through his own
hard efforts, had become a big star; w hereasthese
Beatles are not even clean-cut Liverpool boys —
at least they need a barber, if nothing else.
Of course, the whole point is that we should
have matured a little bit more within the past
twenty years. After the Elvis Pressley malaise,
one had hoped there would be no repetition.
Alas, this type of germ hangs around, seemingly
carried by beatles, and we do not yet seem to
have found the right vaccine for it.
I am told that the Beatles spent a week in
France before coming to the United States. If
serious Frenchmen were half as appalled as
some of us in this country, we can better un
derstand President De-Gaulle’s rejection of the
British entry into the Common Market. After
all, the Beatles could well sabotage his Grand
Design for a United Europe. Nothing would be
more reprehensible than diplomats sealing their
agreements with a “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”.
I DON’T suppose 1 am being quite fair to
this Scouser quartet; maybe the blame lies with
their press agents and promoters .who do not
seem to have missed a trick. Long before the
Beatles arrived, their fame was being spread
throughout the land. Every record shop and dime
store was plugging their latest rendition, with pic
tures to match. I was quite concerned because
I happened to see them in Dublin last November.
1 had stopped in the Irish capital on the way to
Rome, and went out for an evening's stroll along
O’Connell Street. I did not get very far before I
touched upon a near-riot with howling mobs of
teen-agers jostling with the Irish constabulary.
I was told the Beatles had caused it inasmuch
as they were appearing at the local Adelphl
Theatre for a one-night stand. It took me quite
a long time to realize that the foursome belong
ed to the human race.
1 hope these Reapings are transcribed O. K.
by my secretary, for it is difficult to dictate
with a phonograph blaring in one of the girl’s
bedrooms, next to my den. It seems they bought
a record the other day; it i s by a quartet called
the Beatles,^and the tide hit is “I Want to Hold
Your Hand , Yes, I think parents ought to do
something about it— and soon. As one of my ad
vertisers wotnd say: “At times like these, call
Orkin, please! And in case we lose the Getz
account, let s emphasize that “Getz always gets
em .
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM