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PACE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN
THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1964
MARX-ENGELS
tfie Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
SMVING 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.O. Box 11667
Northside Station
Atlanta 5, Ga.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F.X. Mayhew
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
Moral Leadership
Most of the news coming out of
our Southland of recent date has
been negative in nature in the
area of Civil Rights. Riots, sit-
ins, arrests, and legal disputes
-- none of these things have done
much to improve the crisis in
this area of human relations.
The last time we wrote about
the racial situation in Birming
ham, Alabama, it was to deplore
the murde r of four innocent child
ren -- the victims of a cowardly
and brutal bombing attack on a
Negro church.
On this Easter Sunday morn
the people of Birmingham showed
that they were capable of much
greater things in the interest of
community harmony. More than
35,000 of them, white and Negro,
sat together at an Easter service
conducted by Evangelist Billy
Graham in a local football stad
ium. What some people thought
impossible, happened, and an in
tegrated citizenry found a com
mon ground. Dr. Graham is to be
congratulated on having the cour
age to conduct this service de
spite threats from a few extre
mists who obviously did not rep
resent the people of Birming
ham.
The success at Birmingham
gives added impetus to the plea
made last week by President
Johnson to Southern Baptist lead
ers. He asked them to help him
pass Civil Rights legislation
through educating their people
from the pulpit. The President's
plea, contrary to the opinions ex
pressed by some, had a moral
as well as a political motiva
tion.
Indeed, the problem of racial
injustice is primarily a moral
one. Those, therefore, who are
ordained to preach the moral
law , should,be the first to an
swer the call from the Presi
dent. The religious power struc
ture in the South has grave re
sponsibilities to ensure that the
commandment to “love thy
neighbor” is more than a pious
quote. Where there is discrimi
nation there is no love. As we
have said before, if we cannot
see the God-man in the Negro
man we will also fail to see Him
in eternity.
Only in recent times have chur
ches in the South (and we Catho
lics are not sinless in this re
gard) taken the necessary steps
to further the moral leadership
sadly lacking in this area of hu
man endeavor. The recent cour
ageous action by Atlanta’s First
Baptist Church, under the lead
ership of Rev. Dr. Roy McLain,
in integrating its congregation
should be an example for others
to follow.
What is needed now is a will
ing acceptance by more churches
and more clergy of their major
role in educating their congrega
tions to the justice of the Civil
Right cause. For too long have the
politicians been in control of the
situation. Now is the time for us
to demand that our legislators
move from the obstructionist role
to the positive role of states
men. Indeed, we think it is only
fair to ask that if they persist
in their opposition to Civil Rights
legislation that they at least offer
something positive in its place--
something which will also en
sure the Negro his rightful place
in our American society, free
from the stigma of a color line;
free from discrimination in pub
lic places; and with the guaran
tees of equal opportunity to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happi
ness.
GERARD E.'SHERRY
Clarification
During the past five years
rather frequent reference has
been made to a speech that I
gave as the President of the Nat
ional Catholic Education Asso
ciation in the 1959 meeting of
that organization held in Atlantic
City.
Some of these references have
misquoted me as ‘advocating”
the elimination of the early
grades of the Catholic Elemen-
l Come on now—what am I bid besides
three empty pop bottles?”
tary School in favor of giving
Catholic education to all children
during the years of Junior and
Senior High School. What I act
ually said is this; ‘in certain
localities where, with existing
plant, personnel and resources,
it seems impossible to provide
full Catholic education for all
Catholic children, the question
has been raised about the advisa
bility of offering to every child
Catholic education at a certain
level.
‘Since young children are more
completely under the control of
their parents, since it is common
experience that during the young
er years attention and interest
can be held by extracurricular
religious instruction and since
neither of these conditions hold
true during the years of adole
scence, thought might well be
given to a plan to provide all
children with a Catholic educa
tion, say from the seventh to the
twelfth grade.’
Needless to say, Iwasthenand
am now in favor of full Catholic
education for every Catholic
child whenever that is possible.”
ARCHBISHOP LAWRENCE
SHEHAN OF BALTIMORE
Stone Age Stuff
IN LATIN AMERICA
Little Time Remains
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
One of the most dramatic proposals made by
Pope John XXIII was a "crash program" to aid
the Church in Latin America in its efforts at
self-renewal. The causes of the difficulties of
the Church throughout this vast area, which in
cludes about one-half the total Catholic popula
tion of the world, are complex and deeply ingrain
ed. Pope John recognized the urgent need to im
prove the effectiveness of the Church in meeting
the myriad problems that beset Latin America.
As with the United States government’s Alliance
for Progress, the threat of Communism was a
strong stimulus to action, if not the fundamental
motive behind the program.
The time that remains to correct past failures
in Latin America may be very short, perhaps too
short. Pope John understood
this. He mobilized all the
resources of the Church for
this urgent mission. Miss
ionaries, lay and clerical, as
well as finances are being
directed to Latin America far
more generously than ever
before. In the United States, the
Latin American Bureau of the
N. C. W. C. has set up lay
volunteer programs as well as the Catholic Inter-
American Cooperation Program involving the
hierarchy, religious orders, lay apostolate
groups, educational institutions and many others.
THE CHURCH in Latin America has on the whole
awakened to its urgent task with enthusiasm. At
a recent meeting of the Catholic Inter-American
Cooperation Program, Senator Hubert Humphrey
praised the role played by the Church in working
for social progress in Latin America: "Through
its teaching and example the Church has become
a catalyst spurring governments into action,” he
said. The "indifference and fatalism" which once
marked ruling groups in Latin America no longer
characterize the elite, he added. "To a significant
extent, the change has been influenced by the re
naissance of the Catholic Church in Latin
America." A message from President Johnson to
the conference struck the same note: "The bold
and imaginative action taken by Church leaders
in many Latin American countries has helped to
give momentum to the twin goals of economic
development and social justice to which our coun
tries are pledged under the Alliance for Pro
gress."
ONE OF the new approaches adopted by the
Church to meet the desperate situation in Latin
America has been the sending of diocesan priests
as missioners. Stirred by Church-wide ap
peals for clergy to meet the vast needs of Latin
America, Spain has led the way with two hund
red and forty-three diocesan clergy taking up work
in Latin America in 1963. Several dioceses in the
United States have established programs for the
same end.
Three Chicago diocesan priests, who staff the
"experimental parish" of San Miguelito in the
shanty-town outskirts of Panama City, have stat
ed their revolutionary aims: "to create "family"
rather than organization; to build "Church"
rather than schools or even churches; to form
a saintly people and not merely saints; to form
a committed not merely a knowledgeable people
to strive for fulfilment of the law and not mere
observance; to form Christians in society not
members of Christian societies; to project the
Faith not merely protect it; to seek the Truth
rather than claim it." Their apostolate, Pope John
said, is the concern of all of us.
GEORGIA PINES
Acts Of Thoughtfulness
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
As a matter of fact just last week I witnessed
an act of thoughtfulness which impressed me,
I was driving out to the convent of Our Lady of
the Assumption in North Atlanta to give a confer
ence to the Sisters of Mercy. At Lenox Square
I was stopped for a red light
signal. The wind was blowing
real hard, hard enough to knock
over a sign. Several persons
walked by the sign without, I
presume, even noticing it. A
young boy in a military uniform
happened by and noticing the
sign stopped and picked it up.
As if this was not enough, he
glanced at it and then straight
ened it out. I felt real proud when I recognized
the military uniform as one worn by the Marist
College cadets.
The ceremonies of the past week with the huge
crowds in attendance were certainly an inspir
ing sight. Here in Gainesville, we had a terrific
rain-storm. One certainly would have thought that
it would have been enough to leave the church
empty. Quite the contrary. One couple, who could
not get their auto started and were unable to call
a taxi, walked a distance of two miles rather
than miss the Holy Week ceremonies This sure
ly was inspiring, especially in an age when we
are labeled as "soft".
I UNDERSTAND that last week in Gainesville
a person who was being operated on suddenly
needed a rare type blood. None was immediately
available in the hospital so the good Doctor him
self donated his own blood right there on the
spot.
The most recent story at my "Coffee Club"
was about a legislator from Lumpkin County who
went to Atlanta to represent his county. Of course,
this was back in the day when the state govern
ment had just moved from Milledgeville to At
lanta, Anyhow, he took the train into Atlanta,
and not being familiar with the big city he asked
the first stranger where the capitol building was
located. The "city slicker" took stock of his
"country cousin" and sent him in the direction of
the farmer’s market. The newly elected law
maker walked into the meat market and observed
all the sides of beef hanging on the hooks. He
pu: his own duffle-bag on the hooks too with the
exclamation, "I guess we’re going to eat real
good during this session."
People. . .1 love them.
What Is To
Be Done?
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
The other day I came across some notes I
had made on a talk given by my former boss,
Bishop Willinger of Fresno, Calif. It was on
communism—its origins and purpose. I thought
it was very good because it was devoid of hyste
ria and exaggeration. Here is the gist of what
the bishop said:
Communism did not originate yesterday. It
aborted before you or I were born. More than a
100 years ago—a disorderly — cynical man-
bitter and rebellious
against society—
wrote a couple of
books. A gay fel
low, wealthy, athe
istic, revolutionary,
collaborated with
him.
Their names w ere
Karl Marx and Fre
derick Engels. The
"Communist Mani
festo" and "Das Kapital" were the titles of the
books. Filled with the theory and philosophy
of atheistic Communism,— these books became
known as the Bible of Communism.
These men promoted war between the class
es—between Capital and Labor—between the
bourgeois and the proletariat. They believed that
eventually Capitalism would destroy itself through
warfare and economic depression.
Refusing to await this eventuality—they called
upon the workers of the world to rise up against
the capitalists and to put an end to the exist
ing social order by revolution. Violence was their
road to success.
Despite this vigorous appeal of Marx and
Engels— the results were disappointing. Ano
ther and more practical exponent of atheistic
Communism was needed. In due time he ap
peared. More than 60 years have passed since
his arrival. He also wrote a book and called
it: "What is to be Done?"
What was done by that writer and his follo
wers—explains our present day crisis and af
fects the future of every inhabitant of this earth.
When the book was printed at the turn of the
century—its author was in exile. Living frug
ally on small subsidies from the political un
derworld-scorning all the values of his middle-
class heritage—this man was the self-appointed
leader of a handful of outcasts.
In the judgment of property-owners, the .capi
talists, statesmen, clergymen and military lea
ders of his day, — this lawyer— and hft’circle
of impractical agitators— were considered the
lunatic fringe of society.
The power—elite— of that day—ignored his
pamphlets—they did not read his book. I doubt
if many property owners, politicians, teach
ers, statesmen, clergymen and generals of our
times—have read that book.
Yet that man and his impoverished disciples—
inspired by Marx and Engels—exploited the prac
tical, concrete ideas set forth in his book—
"What is to be Done?” Their successors have
seized two continents and set fire to all others
by engineering the most skillfully executed pow
er-grab in human history.
Today whole libraries —as well as the graves
of some 20 nations— and at least 40 million
people—bear witness to the deadly political
science of a movement—whose conquests—exceed
the combined empires of the greatest conquer
ors in history'—and whose ever-increasing capa
bility to lay waste the world—has become the
gauge of our own national and private object
ives. That lawyer's name was Lenin.
Thousands of miles removed from his home
stead and six decades from the publication of
his book, "What is to be Done?— Americans
who never heard of Lenin—must face the con
sequences of his indomitable will and his fear
ful talent.
Prior to his day—the various forms of Socia
lism were sentimental day-dreams and freak
experiments. But to Lenin—Communism was not
a crackpot idea or lunacy; it was a power techni
que. It was more than a philosophy—it was a
religion without God—a revolution witKout free,
man—a triumph of organized means and wea/
pons of unrestricted ethics.
Under Lenin’s tutelage—Communists became
international conspirators—and down through the
years have sought to dominate and rule the
world.
Today they control two-fifths of the earth. They
have swept behind their Curtains and Walls-
some 900,000,000 people, They libel their com
petitors—they poison the courts of public opin
ion—they blackmail governments, they belittle
presidents— rulers — prime-ministers or
statesmen— in fact anyone—everyone standing
in their way.
And thanks to the materialistic philosophy in
higher institutions of learning, — thanks to the
subtle propaganda of an international fith column,
—to unnumbered spies, Reds, fellow-travelers
and followers of the line—theorized by Marx and
activated by Lenin, — the Communists have
never wanted for collaborators.
They have never failed to find—men pretend
ing to be intellectuals—men seeking notoriety-
professors and students—eccentrics and geniu
ses—traitors and sympathizers—politicians and
would be statesmen—to overlook their frauds
and forgeries—their lies and calumnies—their
murders and slaves—their wars hot and cold—
that are part of the blood-drenched record—
they have written on every page of the history
of the past five decades.
And it all started with Lenin—who—weary
of the talk—the conferences and the slogans—,
asked the question—that all practical men—
with a purpose good or bad—are obliged t 0
ask: "What is to be Done?"
Oir position—-after all these years—is the
result of our failure—to ask the same question
—"What is to be Done?” — not against the
up-side-down social order of the century—but
against one—infinitely worse—COMMUNISM.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM