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THE MISSIONARY CHURCH
The ‘Medicine Of Mercy 5 Rather Than That Of Severity
This article by Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan ap
pears in the Spring (1964) issue of SPIRITUAL
LIFE, a quarterly published by the Washington
Province of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers. It
is reprinted with permission of Fr. Sebastian,
O.C.D., editor of SPIRITUAL LIFE and a Geoi>
gia native from this Archdiocese.
BY ARCHBISHOP PAUL J. HALLINAN
When Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vati
can Council, his magnificent address almost suf
fered the same fate as Lincoln's at Gettsburg.
In all the pageantry it was almost overlooked.
Then, as the Council progressed, his striking
words were recalled, re-read, studied, and quot
ed. It became quite clear that in these vibrant
paragraphs, the voice of Pope John was speaking
the same, sure directives that Peter had spoken
long ago, and before him, Christ Himself.
Pope John said, in regard to the errors that dog
the pathway of truth:
'THE CHURCH
has always oppos
ed these errors.
Frequently she
has condemned
them with the
greatest severity.
Nowadays, how
ever, the spouse
of Christ prefers
to make use of the
medicine of mer
cy rather than that
of severity."
It is time we re-examined this "medicine of
mercy" in our day. Because this virtue is rooted
in the single heart, it has been neglected in our
easy reliance on the collective. Because it is a
strange bedfellow for national and racial pride, it
has often found itself out on the floor. And because
it works best in the quiet shade of humble spirits,
it has not received equal billing with the more
aggressive virtues. A modern crowd would listen
to Our Lord's beatitude, "Blessed are the merci
ful!" and askinwonder, "Blessed are the-what?"
The brave, yes, or the temperate, even the Just,-
but the merciful?
THIS IS NOT a homily on mercy. There are
plenty of occasions for that as the post-Pentecost
liturgy takes us down the long gallery of the Good
Shepherd, Our Lord feeding the hungry, having
compassion on the multitude, weeping over Jeru
salem; the discredited publican in the temple, the
good Samaritan, and the ten lepers who were cur
ed. As we walk along this gallery of mercy each
summer, is it not remarkable how little these
images do to us?
Yet this insensitivity to mercy is not new. Our
Lord met with it too. The most persistent accu
sation made against Him was that He ate with the
lower classes, associated with them, almost pre
ferred their company. Magdalene sensed it, so did
the penitent thief, but the average citizen, then as
new, was shocked by His unseemly concern for
those in need, His compassion for the have-nots,
His mercy. He had to remind them, "I say to
you, there will be joy among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents." Needless to say,
this joy was not shared by His respectable critics.
THERE ARE not many Catholics, proportionate
ly, in the 71 counties that make up the new Arch
diocese of Atlanta-about 3%. In some counties,
there are not more than a dozen. When the recent
census was underway, a priest was explaining, in
one remote area, that we would need census-
takers to the number of 2/3 of the Catholic fami
lies in a given area. One man rose to ask, as
he put it, not a theological question, but a mathe
matical one. "How do you find 2/3 of four?"
How then explain the spiritual prestige of the
Catholic Church here? The Church has a good
name, "Catholic" is a good word, not in any sur
face sense of an artificial image, but in the hearts
of men.
The impact of the Catholic Church in many areas
of the new South has come from several things:
the great influx of northern Catholics, the return
of lapsed Catholics when a chapel is built nearby,
a small but steady stream of converts, particular
ly among the Negroes. One factor, often over-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
RELIGIOUS
VOCATIONS
MONTH
Archdiocese of Atlanta
SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
VOL 2 NO 11
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1964
$5.00 PER YEAR
GUNMEN FOILED
Maryknoll Post
Office Held Up
OUR LADY of vocations is the
title of this statue at the Ameri
can headquarters of the Mill
Hill Fathers (St. Joseph's Mis
sionary Society) at Slinger-
lands, N.Y, The community,
founded in England in 1866 also
sponsors an Association of Mo
thers of Priests at its New York
shrine •
Bottom
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (RNS)—
St. Aloysius Roman Catholic
church in West Allis, a Mil
waukee suburb, will discon
tinue the first four grades of
its parochial school beginning
September, 1965, it was an
nounced by Father Oscar Win-
ninghoff, pastor of ths parish*
OSSINING, N Y. (RNS)—Gun
men who spent months planning
a holdup at the post office of the
famed Roman Catholic Mary
knoll Mission headquarters
near here made their move on
a fog-shrouded morning — then
discovered in a blaze of gun
fire that there was a flaw in
their scheme.
Police — who had the post
office surrounded — wounded
and captured three of at least
four of the holdupmen and re
covered some $50,000 in cash,
stamps and money orders. The
officers had known of the rob
bery plan for months.
STATE TROOPERS New York
City police and local officers
watched as the gunmen drove up
to the post office in the three
story Price Building.
Inside a policewoman and
deputy sheriff disguised as a
nun and brother they had earl
ier relieved, were forced at
gunpoint into a bathroom while
the holdupmen rifled the safe
Grades
tendent of Cincinnati schools,
said the city would need more
operating money, and the school
board tentatively adopted apian
to put a school tax levy on the
November ballot, instead of
waiting until 1965 as originally
proposed.
and desk drawers and stepped
outside.
A trooper then ordered: "Stop,
this is the police."
FATHER ALBERT J. Nevins,
M.M., director of public rela
tions for the mission operation
and an eyewitness said the or
der was answered with gunfire.
"One man was outside the
car shooting," he said, "the
two others drove away, went
over a bank and crashed into a
tree." Bullets from police guns
riddled the auto as it raced
away, Injuring both occupants.
The third man also was wound
ed.
Father Nevins said a fourth
man, apparently a lookout, es
caped as the shooting started.
He may have been wounded, it
was believed.
POLICE LEARNED of the
robbery plan before Christ
mas, Father Nevins said, and
kept a constant watch on the
post office. Word of the exact
day of the holdup brought a
force of some 50 lawmen to
the grounds of the mission head
quarters.
The priest said the would-be
robbers apparently had planned
>to holdup the post office last
Christmas, but at the last
minute postponed the attempt.
He reported that suspects had
visited the post office "three or
four times" in the week pre
vious to the actual robbery.
TWO OF THE three wounded
men were reported in serious
condition. One bullet struck a
New York City police lieutenant,
John P. Jennings, but he was
not badly hurt.
MILWAUKEE PARM.
School Drops 4
He said the decision was
made because of growing over
crowded conditions in the school
and would affect about 600 child
ren who must find room in
schools of the West Allis-West
Milwaukee School District.
FATHER WlNNiNGHOFF said
the school board had rejected
his proposal that it build a 24-
room public school across the
street from St. Aloysius so that
some parochial school pupils
could take secular courses un
der a shared time plan.
"I'm going to quit talking,"
the P riest "I'm saying,
•Here ^00 kids . you solve
the problem. And I'mgivingyou
a year <md a half to solve it,' "
Dr. ' Vende11 Pierc *. superin-
Open House
Convents of the Archdiocese will hold open house from 3 to 5
p.m. for young girls and their parents Interested in observing
convent life at first hand. This Open House is one of the projects
of the Commission on Religious Vocations, to which is assign
ed the task of furthering the cause of vocations in the Archdiocese.
By visiting the home of a contented, well-ordered community of
Sisters, young people will *be enlightened and inspired. This will
be an opportunity to ask questions about convent life and to inquire
about the spirit and work of a particular community. The girls and
their parents will learn at first hand that convent life is family life
in its most intimate and exalted form. There, under the authority of
a superior upon whom grace has bestowed love and solicitude be
yond comparison, fraternal charity is the keynote of a happy life.
The treasure beyond compare is, of course, the chapel where
Christ imself radiates happiness, joy and strength andwhere won-
derfu 6 iaces are obtained to carry on His work for souls.
IN AN OPEN CAR IN THE RAIN—Enroute to the Church of the Great Mother of God, in Rome,
Pope Paul VI waves from an open car as crowds protected by umbrellas line the street. Later,
following the annual blessing of automobiles, hundreds of motorists Joined in a horn-honking
parade to St. Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father imparted hi/ties sing for their safety in the
daily battle with Rome's traffic perils.
IN ARTICLE
Rabbi Says ‘The
Is Anti-Catholic
NEW YORK (RNS)— A
charge was leveled here by a
New York rabbi — writing in
the Roman Catholic national
weekly, America — that the
controversial Rolf Hochhuth
drama, "The Deputy," not only
will provoke anti-Catholicism
but is an "anti-religious" work
which should be "quietly for
gotten."
Rabbi Arthur Gilbert, in a
review which found virtually
nothing to commend the Broad
way production of the play, st
ruck out also at the German
Protestant playwright.
"IN MY judgment Hochhuth
has failed both as historian and
as artist. He wrote a polemic
rather than a profound disco
urse," the rabbi said. "It is to
the credit of sensitive, sophis
ticated critics and scholars that
this play has provided an oc
casion for serious analysis
of the failure of the Church dur
ing the Nazi period. The play
hinders such an analysis."
Rabbi Gilbertstaff consul
tant to file National" "Confer
ence of Christians and Jews on
its Religious Liberty and Public
Affairs Project, said he "wrote
the review in my private capa
city as a rabbi."
Calling the play a "misfor
tune," Rabbi Gilbert urged that
it be forgotten "so that we may
better use our energies to re
view and discuss the solid, mat
ure words of scholarship now
available — and soon to be pub
lished — that beg for read
ers.
WITH BROKEN hearts beat
ing In some measure of sym
pathy and empathy with each
other, we may then per
haps learn from the mistakes
of the past and proceed with the
work of serving God through
cooperative effort to achieve
Justice for all the persecuted
of our own day."
Thi- .rabbi agreed with some
other reviewers’ criticism that
the Hochhuth work, which con
tends that the late Pope Plus
XII should have spoken out pub
licly against Nazi exterminat
ion of Jews, made a carica
ture of the pontiff.
HAD THE Pope been dealt
Catholics 55%
VATICAN CITY (RNS) —
Vatican radio said that 55 per
c£nt of all Indians and Eski
mos living in Canada are Cath
olic. It said there were 121,148
Catholics among the Indian-Es-
fcimo population of 200,121.
Deputy’
Drama
with "in some depth," the re
viewer said, "The tragedy
and the pain, even the culpabi
lity Involved In Plus' error In
Judgment" might have been re
cognized.
He also maintained that the
play "serves to remove some
of the burden of guilt from the
Nazis and the Germans" and
expressed regret, "as a Jew,
that. . .not one Jewish charac
ter of dignity was presented."
IN HIS charge that the play is
"anti-religious," Rabbi Gil
bert said that thp young Jesuit
hero who goes ti the gas cham
bers with the Jews after fail
ing to elicit a public condemn
ation of the atrocities from the
Pope "does not demonstrate st
rength of will and purposeful
faith as he accepts the cross.
"His death is made to appear
almost meaningless, and the
redemptive quality that both Ju
daism and Christianity believe
inheres in the suffering of the
righteous is painfully lacking."
"What disturbs me above all,
however," he added, "is that
by invoking the ghost of the six
million dead, this play arouses
within us both profound and base
feelings and then it leaves us
uncleansed, unhealed, without
catharsis."
WITH PROTESTANTS
Pontiff Calls
For Dialogue
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—Ac
tive support of a dialogue with
Protestants was urged by Pope
Paul VI during a Mass he cele
brated in St. Peter's Basilica to
commemorate the fourth cen
tenary of the Council of Trent.
Among those attending the
Mass were 5,000 pilgrims from
Trent where the 19th Ecumeni
cal Council, called to deal with
the crisis of the Protestant Re
formation, met at intervals be
tween 1545 and 1563
THE POPE said the Counci
of Trent had failed to heal the
Cathollc-Protestant breach, but
he stressed that this was the
goal toward which the present
Second Vatican was looking with
hope and prayer.
'The Council which the
Church is today celebrating,"
he said, "derives from the one
now being commemorated. This
is seen more clearly and vivid
ly in the great and difficult ques
tion which gave rise to the
Council of Trent but for which
the Council of Trent itself did
not find a solution: the question
of finding a common ground
again in the same faith, the same
charity, with Christians which
the Protestant reform separat
ed from this center, this heart
of unity."
Pope Paul said the city of
Trent was chosen for the 16th
century Council "to make a
meeting ground easier of at
tainment, so as to act as a
bridge, so as to offer an em
brace of reconciliation and
friendship. But no such joyous
or glorious result came about."
HOWEVER, he stressed,
'Trent will always, as will we,
as will the entire Catholic
world, cherish the desire. Trent
must stand out as symbolic of
this desire still alive today, a
desire even more lively, insis-
Protestants Aid
Priest-Classmate
MARYKNOLL, N. Y. (NC)~
There's nothing unusual about
alumni raising funds to aid a
former c lassmate -- except
when the school is Protestant
and the recipient a Catholic
priest.
A group of alumni raised
320,000 soles more than $11,000
for a Father Frisancho, a form
er classmate, now a Catholic
priest who plans to build a
housing development for the
poor near Lima.
tent, patient and prayerful."
f ‘Trent," the Pope added,
"must, by the firmness of her
Catholic faith, put up no bar
riers. It must open the door,
not close it.
"It must keep open the dia
logue, not with taunts of old
mistakes, but ever looking for
new virtues, not sitting back and
waiting for what has happened
in four centuries, but going out
in brotherly fashion to find
them.
'This is what the new Coun
cil, with the help of God, is
wanting to do, and this is what
you, more than any others In
the Church of God, must under
stand and give your support to
at the present time."
Pope Paul, who spoke at the
Gospel part of the Mass, began
by referring to what he called
"a stupendous fact of history--
the fidelity of the Catholic
Church to Christ her Founder
and Teacher.
'This is a comforting thought
now in a time that has such a
particular need of certitude as
to what ii the essence and gui
dance of the Holy Church," he
said. 'This certitule is that to
day her teaching is as valid as
it was yesterday and as it will
be tomorrow.
'THAT CONFIDENCE, that
adherence to her teaching and
her discipline does not make
our thoughts sterile nor es
trange them from understand
ing and acquiring what modern
knowledge produces and pos
sesses.
82ND ANNUAL medalist - The
1964 Laetare Medal of the Uni
versity of Notre Dame has been
awarded to poet, Phyllis Mc-
Ginley (Mrs. Charles Hayden)
of Weston, Conn. Seventeen wo
men are among the recipients
of the annual award conferred
on an outstanding American
Catholic lawman, and which is
announced on Laetare Sunday.