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4 PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1964 GOOD SHEPHERD Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA BULLETIN! SHVINa 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 EDrTOR Gerard E. Sherrv CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kiernaq ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F.X. Mayhew Member of the Catholic Press Association and Subscriber to N.C.W,C.'News Service U.S.A. $5,00 Telephone 231-1281 Canada $5.00 Foreign $6.50 Second Class Permit at Atlanta. Ga. 2699 Peachtree N.E. P.O. Box 1166^ Northside Station Atlanta 5, Ga. Striking Medicine The confused situation in re lation to medicine in Belgium brings to the fore a very pertinent question: “Can doctors morally and ethically strike?*' Inany such question one must be guided by logic and reason, not sentiment or expediency. A physicians is ethically bound in his relation ship with patients by justice and charity. Justice, because the relation between physician and patient implies legally and morally a contract, with obligations on both sides. The physician, when he accepts the patient, must injus tice treat him regardless of in convenience, danger to himself from infection, or in spite of dislike of the patient's reputa tion or personality. He must not abandon him nor desert him with out ample prior notice or without allowing the patient to find satis factory provision for care else where. The patient is obligated to answer the doctor's questions honestly, to follow his directions ot the best of his ability, and to pay for the services rendered. In charity the physician has an obligation to all other human be ings besides those he has con tracted to care for on an indivi dual basis. This consists of as sisting any persbn in extreme need of medical attention regard less of inconvenience or reim bursement for his services. By extreme need is meant danger of death, dismemberment or per sonal invalidism. Morally speak ing, the physician is not obliged to attend those not in extreme need with whom he is not under contract. On the basis of these two principles a “doctors strike" is immoral. The situation in Belgium is complicated by the fact that the government assumed responsi bility for medical care of its citi zens. Does the doctor's contract with his patients and his obliga tions in justice still exist? Or does the doctor, in spite of his objections, now have a contract with the government? Is he entit led , like other government em ployes, to strike for better work ing conditions, higher pay or a new contract? Obviously, the government has equal obligations to treat the physician with com plete justice. The moral question regarding charity is clear. In Belgium, or anywhere else no physician can ever refuse medical attention to someone in danger of death or serious disability. From reports it appears that the doctors' ef forts to set' up skeleton staffs in Belgium hospitals for emer gency care have proven inadequ ate. Certainly the doctor is still obligated to care for the patient in extreme danger outside of these hospital clinics. Emer gency clinics create dangerous situations and even in this coun try occasionally private physici ans or physicians staffing char ity cliiiics forget this grave mor al responsibility. We hope most physicians will instinctively be repelled by the idea of a “doctors' strike". Dutch physicians have refused to cooperate with their Belgian col leagues and are treating all who cross the boarder for assistance. Leaders of the New York State medical society have condemned the strike as unethical. Let us hope the AMA will do likewise. We should all learn from this sad lesson and should try to find equitable means of providing good medical care with justice and freedom for both physician and patient alike. ATLANTA CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN Liturgical Review The American bishops have met in Washington, D.C. to carry out the prescription of the Vati can Council regarding use of the vernacular in the liturgy. They have approved anEnglishversion of the prayers and readings to be used at Low Mass and have sub mitted it to the Holy See for final approbation, A national meet ing of diocesan liturgical com missions is planned for later this month in Kansas City, The conference will discuss the litur gical changes and procedures for introaucing the new reforms, A target date of the first Sunday of Advent has been set for the use of the English portions of the Low Mass. The Church has come to a de cision in this matter - in prin ciple at the Ecumenical Council and in practical detail at the Washington bishops' meeting. The Holy Spirit has certainly been the prime Mover in both in stances. Most Catholics will wel come these decisions and the new day in Catholic history which they signal. Undoubtedly, some will find the changes difficult to ac cept, strange and contrary to long-established habits and taste. All without exception, how ever, ought to resolve to accept the bishops' decisions with as much enthusiasm as possible, confident that the Church's wis dom will be vindicated in a flourishing increase of Catholic life. To achieve their maximum be nefit, the liturgical reforms will require a warm welcome from every Catholic. In addition, we* will need to expend the requis ite effort by way of attention and study to guarantee their full effect in our own lives, our fami lies and our parishes. The increased sense of imme diate contact which the vernacu lar and the other liturgical re forms will bring to our exper ience of the Mass ought soon to re-vitalize the life of every par ish. Common participation in the prayers and responses in our own tongue and hearing the Word of God read directly to us as a community will have a clearer and more profound meaning. The primary loyalty we will feel with in our parish and the center of our interest will be the altar ar ound which we learn and wor ship. The first step is now to pledge our support and cooper ation to the Church and to our biBhops, LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW GEORGIA PINES A Rainy, Rainy World BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN "And then, the rains came. . ." Five inches fell on these north Georgia hills in a period of only three days. Lake Lanier is higher than it ever had been before, and the streams fill ing the lake have deposited an unusual amount of mud in the beautiful blue water. The weather man had predicted only showers. As one man said to me, "He said that we would only have after noon showers. I guess if he ever predicts thun dershowers we better start building an ark." Calculations say that Lake Lanier is expected to rise to its present state only once every fifty years. At any rate, everytime I have driven into Atlanta through Flowery Branch I’ve won dered when that fifty year mark would arrive^ There is an unusually low spot, just south of Flowery Branch, where the water comes next to the road. Well, the day arrived last week. The trip into Atlanta in the morning was fascinating as I watched fish swimming by crossing over the roadbed.The return trip was not so fascinat ing, however. About the time 1 approached Flowery Branch a cloud burst deposited tons of water in the area. The State Highway department had a truck on the scene escorting autos over the innundated road. It was like driving one of those amphibious ducks so popular in World War II. I heard over the radio * later that night that the road had been completely closed. Withforty inch es of water now standing, it was announced that the road would be closed for at least three weeks. Alternate routs to Gainesville have been provided. One of these routes, over the Holiday- McEver Road, is yet unpaved. Sliding over red clay, dodging big ruts, and driving at 15 miles- per-hour is sure a far cry from the modern super highways of today. I suppose that we all take our roads for granted until something like this happens. I do know, though, that many a person will be happy in north Georgia when U. S. 23 is opened again. It goes to show you just what inconvenience an "afternoon shower" can put one to. There is another route into Atlanta from Gains- ville. A state road, 53, down through Brasel- ton and over State 124 into Lawrenceville finally deposits you on 1-85 (northeast expressway). I know that this highway was never constructed to handle the present traffic and it probably will .only be a short time before it will look like its sister road, the unpaved Holiday-McEver route. One does have an unusual audience over the route though. Some of the children living along the route have never observed as many cars as they are doing right now. For endless hours they wave to the passers-by. One man told me that it was next to impossible to get any work out of his tenant farmers. "They are too busy waving to the commuters," he exclaimed. One spot on this state highway runs within a hundred yards of the expressway between At lanta and Greenville, South Carolina (1-85). Near this particular spot I stopped one day to read one of those markers placed by the Georgia Historic Society. It was titled "Smith's Fort". By an act of the legislature a fort was constructed on this spot to protect the inhabitants from the raiding Indians and the English supporters during the War of 1812. Now overgrown with weeds, the spot reveals not a single trace of the once important fort. Even the historic marker has faded andthe ground nearby looks as if no one has stopped to read the sign for years. But what a contrast. One side of the road is a lonely spot once so important as a haven of safety to travelers; the other side, busy with bulldozers and earth moving equipment to provide safety for a nation on wheels. The contrasts are only 150 years apart. I suppose that I too would have never even known about this historic spot had it not been for the inconvenience caused last week by an "after noon shower." AMERICA'S CHURCHES A Crisis Of Conscience BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW Last Flrday in Washington, D. C. represen tatives of the Jewish, Protestant and Catholic faiths announced a "campaign of spiritual leader ship, public pressure and private prayer" for passage of the civil rights bill now before the Senate. A rally of clergy from all faiths will be held in the nation's capital on April 28 to join in prayer for social justice. All Senators and Representatives of the U. S. Congress have been invited to the rally at which the na tion’s religious leaders will express their ser ious concern about the civil rights legislation now before the Senate. This,is the most recent step in a mounting campaign by re ligious groups to Insure pass age of the bill. Ever since the March on Washington last summer, in which so many religious lead ers participated, there has been evidence of an increasingly ac ute crisis of conscience on the part of America’s churches. As the violent fruit of generations of Injustice has shown Itself in the past years, religious Americans have had to face squarely up to their own failures. The Churches have taught justice and lived with discrimination; they have preached love and practiced segrega tion; they have advocated a witness to Christ despite the cost and have at the same time, pro fited from a system which suppressed human dignity. Elementary honesty and a guilty consc ience have now dictated the setting aside of all double talk excuses for inaction. Most of the re ligious groups have set their own houses in or der and now they must give a witness to their nation and to the world. THE CURRENT revolution for equal rights and opportunities for American Negroes is an explos ive phenomenon. All revolutions are explosive. The civil rights revolution cannot be neatly con tained within plans for snail’s pace compromise. The pendulum was allowed to swing too far in the wrong direction for it to be easily governed into dead center merely by wishful thinking. The Negro revolution in quest of dignity cannot be ignored. It has spread too widely and too far, to even the smallest towns and the smallest churches, It has entered the aspirations of too many young men and women, boys and girls. The myth of leftist conspiracy is a bankrupt ex cuse when measured against their future. Nor can the deadly serious determination of most of thi s nation be rationalized away by the myths and propaganda of the racists. They would have us believe that the Negro.is some how to blame for his own oppresion, that he is poor and uneducated in vast numbers because he does not choose to shed his poverty or to ach ieve a higher status. The moral issue cannot be dissolved into a question of local rivalry - CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 ‘Sheep’ Have Role, Too! BY GERARD E. SHERRY The Gospel of last Sunday concerned the Good Shepherd and it presented a wonderful opportu nity to emphaisze to the laity its true meaning in the light of the renewal or updating of the Church. So often in the past this story in the Gos pel has been used to demand blind obedience from the laity. One is, therefore, reminded of Cardinal Cush ing’s famous remark to Catholic Editors in con vention in Boston that the idea of the laity blind ly following as docile sheep was a complete misinterpretation. He made the point that obe dience to the commands of the Shepherd did not mean mindless subservience. THE MORE I read this particular Gos pel, the more I be come convinced that Christ was pointing the way to what the true Shepherd should be. He is concerned about the sheep in a very loving way. Christ is not throw ing His weight around; rather He is saying, "While I have My rights as a Shepherd, I also have My duties." There is a real personal relationship between the Shepherd and the flock. Authority is there. It is hardly imposed however; rather it is project ed in a loving, close relationship and with mutual concern. It is obvious that this concept should seep down to the level of the parish, where in many cases it is a new, and in some, an unwelcome concept. Let us be frank Pope John XXIII's ag- giornamento has opened more than ecclesiasti cal windows. It has given the laity new goals to strive for and new responsibilities. Alas, as I see it, neither the majority of clergy nor the majority of laity are yet ready for the winds of change. A lot of unnecessary friction is there fore engendered with both sides claiming their rights are being infringed upon. Note we are al ways concerned with rights; hardly ever do we stress the mutual duties Involved. REAPINGS AT RANDOM LET’S TAKE a for instance: The laity is writ ing more letters to the clergy than it ever did. They are asking questions which they would not have dared ask even ten years ago. What is more, they are surprised that some of the clergy resent the questions. Where the laity see their questions as denoting interest, some of the clergy see them only as Interference. This is certainly so in relation to questions concerning Catholic education. The laity has in vested so much in prayers and financial sacri fice to keep our parochial system alive that it would be foolhardy to suggest that we want to do away with it. Yet, some national leaders in Cath olic education go into a tizzy simply because an irticulatclaywoman publishers her gripes in book form. She is accused of all kinds of insincer- =rrr ity even though she has no desire to bring down the house of parochial education. On a local level, too, more questions are being asked at Parent- Teacher and Home and School Association meet ings. Some principals and staffs are ready for it and are glad to see that a formerly apathetic laity is now willing to assume more respon sibility. Here again, however, some resent the so^. called intrusion in matters which were formerly considered outside the province of parents. A GREAT deal of patience is going to have to be exercised, both by the clergy and the laity if the tensions are to be eased to bearable pro portions. To state that such tensions do not exist will only make them worse; to ignore them as harmless will not make them any better. The subject was brought into sharp focus a couple of weeks ago when a group of Catholic editors were discussing the so-called "emerging layman". One editor said he was having a very rought time in his diocese because the local clergy were accusing him of stirring up the laity. Another said economic pressures were being put on him simply because he editorialized on the Church’s teachings on social and racial justice. He remarked, as an aside, that some of the pre- sures came from Catholic businessmen who re fused to accept the Church’s view point. A third editor was even more blunt. He said that the economic pressures were being felt in some parishes where laymen who resented the diocesan newspaper's policies even penalized tithing program. He added that this had resulted in less enthusiasm from some of the clergy, for a strong editorial policy which might offend par ishioners. IT IS no use suggesting that this situation does not exist. It does. Those parishioners who are daring to speak out should be allowed to do so as long as what they are speaking about is tre ated objectively. K * layman is speaking out of turn, whether it be an unjust criticism of P ar °chlal schools or attacking the Church’s stand on the racial question, he should be called to task with out fear or favor, disregarding any Possible threats of economic pressures. The Good Shepherd says. , . "The Father loves Me because I lay down My *nd He wills that I should take it back *8 a * n * No one can rob me of it. N’ 0| nay it down of My own will* 1 have power to lay n down, and P ower to take it back again* Such is the charge I ha ve receiv ed from My Father." . , , (John 10:1 !•)