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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1964
GOOD TEXT
,, Archdiocese of Atlanta
the
GEORGIA BULLETIN
SfRVINO 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
Second Class Permit at Atlanta, Ga.
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Foreign $6.50
Education Debate
The dropping of the first grade
from the Cincinnati Archdioce
san school system emphasizes
the need for calm debate on the
future of our Catholic parochial
schools.
The problem is also brought
into sharp focus with the recent
publication by a Catholic writ
er, Mary Perkins Ryan, of a
provocative book entitled, “Are
Parochial Schools the Answer?”
(Holt, Rinehart and Winston. $4).
Mrs. Ryan, the mother of five,
goes so far as to question whether
there should be “a Catholic
school system maintained as part
of the very structure of the
Church.”
Already the doom-mongers
have entered the controversy de
claring that Mrs. Ryan’s book is
part of a dark plot by so-called
Catholic liberals to weaken if
not eliminate parochial schools.
Such comments indicate a lack
of acquaintence with even the re
cent history of the parochial
schools.
Many of the questions asked
by Mrs. Ryan indeed, many
of the fears she expresses in re
lation to the parochial school
system have been commented on
publicly many times in the past
by both Bishops and concerned
clerical and lay educators. To
cite only one example of many
the dropping of the lower grades
of our parochial school system
was advocated several years ago
by Archbishop Lawrence J.She-
han of Baltimore, then Bishop of
Bridgeport and Chairman of the
Education Department, National
Catholic Welfare Conference.
When Bishop Shehan made his
suggestion no one questioned his
good faith or his competence to
propose a solution to the most
urgent problem facing American
SPRING CLEANING
Catholicism. We suggest that to
day the situation can be viewed
in even a clearer light. This is
due in large measure to the con
tinuing discussion of the state of
our schools which has been car
ried on within the teaching pro
fession and in the press. The fi
nancial burdens of Catholic edu
cation are such that both par
ents and parishes, inmany areas,
are being priced out of educa
tion. There is nothing new in this.
We have seen it coming for some
time. The question which must
now be faced is, “How much of a
parochial school system do we
feel essential and practicable in
the light of modern conditions?”
Certainly there is no seman
tic tangle necessary in advocat
ing a retrenchment of the paro
chial school system. Indeed, it
is obviously unwise to continue
grades which impede the pro
gress or financial stability of
the whole system. This was ob-
viouslv the conclusion of the
Archbishop of Cincinnati. We, no
doubt, will see other dioceses
taking similar action. There
are several added considerations
over and above financial prob
lems, which need to be measur
ed. The very existence of our
school system binds the Church
in an implicit contract to offer
first class education, fully com
petitive with the best being pro
vided by public institutions. When
and if it becomes clear that in
terms of facilities, classroom
populations, pupil - teacher
ratios, etc., we are not able to
meet top standards, some ad
justment on our part becomes
obligatory. There is again an
obligation of justice to the teach
ers employed in our schools. Our
educational system must be in a
position to offer equal recom-
pence for equal service.
There is another serious and
hithertofore ignored aspect in the
dropping of various grades in the
parochial systems Many of those
persons who have violently op
posed Federal aid to private and
parochial schools are going to
find themselves paying extra
taxes to provide the public school
accommodations for the Catholio
children unable to attend Catholic
schools. Several Ohio cities and
towns affected by the Cincinnati
Archdiocesan move have been
suddenly jolted by this stark fact.
The phasing out of the primary
grades is only one of the steps
being recommended to solve the
problems of parochial schools.
It is essential that a calm and
reasonable discussion be allowed
to exist in order that the best
ideas may be discovered and
adopted. What is beyond doubt is
that some changes must and will
be made. This should not be a
cause of scandal. As Fr. Denis
Geaney, O.S.A. wrote last year;
“The (parochial school) system
is not of divine origin. It is a re
sponse to a Protestant-oriented
culture ... of the past century
It might be that the best service
we could render the Churchtoday
would be to ... ask ourselves if
the premises of the bishops of
1884 are valid in the drastically
changed world of 1963”.
GERARD E. SHERRY
St. Joseph—God’s Guardian
GEORGIA PINES
The Good Ladies
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Long before I came to Georgia, I was well
acquainted with the organization known as
the Catholic Laymen's Association. It was or
ganized some forty-five years ago and it was
the organization which first started printing
the Bulletin. Led by such outstanding laymen
as James Farrell, Richard Reid and Hugh Kin-
chley the organization succeeded in stemming
the tyde of bigotry and prejudice which was ram
pant for a number of years in our state.
These were men of vision humble
men with a dedicated purpose. Their names
are now, i,13^g with many others, synonymous
with the Church in Georgia.
The church grew. New parishes were establ
ished, schools opened and parochial organizat
ions were founded. No longer, as time went on,
was the state-wide organization necessary
because the church was now organized on a more
local level.
garet Garner, Catherine Etheredge, Louise Quar-
rells (I know I left some outl) but it was
ladies such as these who made for the spirit
which exists in the Council today.
With the establishment of the Diocese of Atlanta
new talent was called for in order to establish
a totally new organization. . . .one just for the
Atlanta diocese. To the front came ‘pioneers’ 1
such as Dorothy Correll, Mary Chappell and Gla
dys Gunning. Such “seasoned" members
as Mary McGuire and those “old reliables” from
the Sacred Heart parish succeeded in getting the
new Council off the ground and really working.
Mentioning names in a column is a dangerous
thing. I know as I scribble these notes that
there are many more whose supporting arms were
responsible for the success which the Council
enjoys today. Please forgive me, for in my anx
iety to pay tribute to a group of dedicated women,
I know that my enthusiasm is out-running my
memory.
In its stead, however, the women of the dio
cese amalgamated their local units with the Nat
ional Council of Catholic Wo
men, a seven million member
organization found in nearly
every comer of the country.
Fifteen years ago when
arrived in Savannah, the talk
the whole diocese was the a{
of Monsignor (no
Bishop) Fulton J. Sheen on
sponsored by the Die
cesan Council. The event, he
in Rome, drew a record attendance and wt
termed highly successful. I recall too hearii
the famed founder of the Christopher moveme
address a similar convention in Savannah.
When the whole state was one diocese the annual
convention of the ladies was a most enjoyable
event. It brought together ladies of the four
deaneries of Albany, Atlanta, Augusta and Sav
annah, in dedicated work eager to compare notes
and formulate successful programs. In particular
I recall so well the ladies from the Immacu
late Conception parish in Atlanta Mar-
I have been stationed in six different parishes
since I came to Georgia, fifteen years ago. In
each one of these parishes, without exception,
it was the industry and willingness of the Coun
cil of Catholic Women which was the driving
force.
1 don’t know what it is but every time the
ladies of this parish (Gainesville) return from an
archdiocesan or deanery meeting. . . . they come
back full of fevor and enthusiasm. If God has
been good to the church in Georgia, He has cer
tainly extended this goodness through the most
wonderful, hard working, loyal and dedicated wo
men of Georgia.
I’ve never attended a national convention. How
ever, last year I understand that there was a
a candidate for national office. Everything
was tense until a priest from Atlanta uninten
tionally forgot his ticket for the banquet. The
waitress informed the good Father that he-could
just sign his name and that he would be billed
on his room. Everyone rocked w ith laughter as
the Atlanta priest signed the ticket: Monsignor
John D. Toomey (Monsignor Toomey is the Spir
itual Moderator of the Savannah Council I).
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
Warm Springs Complex
BY REV. LEONARD F.X. MAYHEW
Thirty-six years ago the late President Franklin
D. Roosevel founded the Georgia Warm Springs
Foundation for the care of polio and for clinical
researc h related to po to care. The March of
Dimes and the National Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis were established as off-shoots of the
Warm Springs Foundation in the fight against the
terrible crippling disease, whose fearful spread
has now largely been halted by the Salk and Sabin
vaccines. This world-famous center of therapy
and research is still in full operation in the quiet
village of Warm Springs, on the eastern edge of
the Chattachoochee Valley inwes:. central Georgia.
The successful use of the vac
cines has led to a decline in the
net^i for polio treatment facili
ties. Polio parents are still
cared for but Warm Springs
has now expanded its physical
facilities and its services in
physical and internal medicine
and in orthopedic surger\ toen-
able it to care for physical dis
abilities resulting from all neuromuscular and
musculoskeletal diseases. The pa.ients presently
cared for at Warm Springs include victims of
rheumatic, diseases, strokes, muscle diseases,
injuries resulting from accidents and many other
conditions that cause physical disability.
THE MAIN complex of buildings at Warm Spring
is en ered through he stately portico of Georgia
Hall, built b\ the ‘contributions of the people of
the state. Directly across the road and facing
Georgia Hall is the glistening white chapel, used
by Catholics, Protestants and Jews for worship.
Once inside Georgia Hall, and all hrough the
wards, therapeutic facilities and of ices which
surround the beautiful, grassy guadrangle, the
visitor meets an c nosphere of cheerv efficiency
and bus.It. L‘ one hadfearedto find the depressing
gloom of the sickroom, the surprise is not only
pleasant but complete. The-morale of the patients
is almost disconcertingly high. They are busily
intense on a constant program of treatment and
training under the- confident, energetic care of
the expert staff.
A tour of the Warm Springs facilities is like
a step through .he looking-glass into a new world,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Mind Of
The Layman
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
One of the great deficiencies in his age of the
so-called “Emerging Layman” has been in the
practical theology associated with his apostolate.
Furthermore, most of the bciter books on the lay
apostolate (and the place of laymen in the church)
have come from Priests and Bishops. Few laymen,
even among the so-called educated ones, have had
the know-how to see, judge and act on the reali
ties invo.ved.
Donald Thorman, in
his book “The
Emerging Layman,”
scratched the sur
face of the problem,
pointing out the prin
ciples involved.
However, he neglect
ed, for the most part,
the clear application
o principles necessary if the layman is ever to
really emerge from the subierranean depths of
ennui.
AT LAST WE have a book which goes beyond
superficial piety in the search of the real Catho
lic spirit of reform and renewal. Daniel Calla
han’s. THE MIND OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMAN,
(Scribner's $3.95) is the first lay-written essay
which comes to grips w ith the problem of the laity
in the twentieth century. And what makes the book
so useful is that it 'provides a historical back
ground leading up to the current problems. Mr.
Callahan treats history with reserve, while ack
nowledging the accuracy of records. His theology,
too, is devoid of the superficial, and comes to
grips with concrete realities rather than text
book abstractions.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
Must reviews of this book have highlighted chap
ter six entiiled, "Concord and Conflict: Clergy and
Laity”. While this is one of the really good dis
cussions within he book, it does not give me the
same satisfaction as the chapter on “The Layman
as Citizen”. This is a subject long ignored by
all but a few Catholic theologians.
I have emphasized before that the true citizen is
he who understands that while the civic community
is not the city of God, neither is it the city of Satan;
it is the city of Man which has to be shaped to
the measure of Man. Thus we look at our civic
community as a good thing, called to the heights,
but besieged by self destruciion. We see it as the
servant of men, but limited to human vision, human
power and human goals. Where can the city get a
higher vision, a higher power and a higher goal?
Mr. Callahan attempts an answer while posing
questions. He points out, “Among the laity.per-
haps no question has been raised so frequently or
insistently as this: what contribution should Catho
lics try to make to American life? This ques
tion means not only what Caiholics as individuals
should try to accomplish, but also what the Church
as a community of clergy and laity, should aim for.
There is still another sense in which this problem
is often understood: how ought the Church seek to
preserve, sustain and protect itself from harmful
forces? How ought it to seek to strengthen itself
internally to ensure faithful and effective service
its members? The first sense of the basic question
bears on the positive, apostolic laskof the Church;
the second on its defensive, preservative lask. At
first glance, it might appear that these different
senses of the question ar- of only academic in-
teres . Nothing could be further from the truth.
The different interpretations of the quesiion ac
count for very differem attitudes concerning the
Church and the American life, and for some of ihc
sharpest arguing among Catholics.”
ON THE subject of the clergy and laity, Mr. Cal
lahan is as much concerned about clergy’s free
dom as he is about the laiiy’s. He has the un
happy faculty of seeing both sides of the tension
involved. This w ill put him at odds w ith both sides
of his friends among the clergy and the laity.
Because he recognizes a real role and value for
authority, obedience and society, he will become
suspect to some; because he stresses a real sin
cere love for God’s great gift to man, his free
dom; and because he realizes tha. there are lim
its to the teachings of the Church, and that the
application of these teachings depends upon the day
by day prudential decisions by a particular Catho
lic, he will become suspect to others of his co
religionists.
THE MIND OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMAN is a
book which should be read in the refectory of every
cloister; should be made compulsory reading for
all seminarians after Tonsure; and should be
available in even - rectory library as a source of
sermon ideas. Let no parish society complain, in
the future, of the lack of a suitable s udy text.
This book fits the bill for, in s udylng it one secs
the urgency of the judgments involved and the
necessity of action now.