Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

II 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 .2699 Peachtree N.E, P.O. Box 11667 Northslde 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. U.S.A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foreign $6.50 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