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PACE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY. APRIL 30. 1964
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA
/ 1, /
SftVING GiORGlA'S 71 NOITHHN COUNTIfS
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
**ts» * sS
2699 Peachtree N.E.
P.O. 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.
U.S.A, $5.00
Canada $5.00
Foreign $6.50
Retracting Denials
We have often spoken about the
hazards of editing a newspaper.
We do our best at all times to
avoid misinformation and gen
eral inaccuracy. And if there is
misinformation we try to cor
rect it. Still, some people are
not past suggesting we do it
deliberately.
These thoughts come to mind
with our publication of two items
in the past two issues. The first
had the headline, “Attorney Sees
No Persecution in Cuba” and the
second said, “Cardinal Flays
John Birchers for Extremism.”
Both stories were received from
our own Catholic NC News Ser
vice, which this week sends us
denials, and retraction of re
tractions.
If readers claim to be confus
ed, let them take solace from the
fact that we editors are in the
same boat. Not that the NC News
Service was in the wrong, for it
reported what it had received
in good faith. And we, in turn,
because we always wish to give
both sides, this week publish the
amended stories.
Attorney James B. Donovan
now denies that he ever said that
the Catholic Church was not being
persecuted in Cuba. Yet, the re
marks attributed to him in a
question and answer period after
a talk at the National Press Club
could be certainly be taken that
way. Whenever comments are
found to be embarrassing, the
accuracy of a reporter is nearly
always challenged and the wire
services and the newspapers get
the blame.
The so-called easing of Cardi
nal Cushing's recent condemna
tion of the John Birch Society
is a different situation altogeth
er. The Cardinal did condemn
the Birchers, but claims he was
hoaxed into it. It is a pity he ever
got himself involved in such a sit
uation and we are sorry that he
was embarrassed by it. We need
men of Cardinal Cushing's cour
age and conviction to be effec
tive witnesses in our society.
Anything which impairs this is a
loss to the Church and the coun
try.
Yes, reporters and editors are
not the only ones involved in the
hazards about which we speak.
Many sincere men become in
volved and we should be the first
to express charitable concern at
all such situations.
In the meanwhile, the old game
of “You did! - I didn't!” looks
likely to go on, with all of us -
press services, editors and read
ers - trying to get a clear pic
ture of what was really said - if
it was said,
GERARD E. SHERRY
First Communion Class
To questionthe First Commun
ion class assures automatic op
position if not resentment. Many
are wedded to old customs -
simply because they are old. That
a custom has a long tradition is
not a guarantee that it is applica
ble today, nor even religiously
significant; granted, because a
custom is old does not mean that
it must be changed.
One pastor considers the First
Communion class unnecessary,
outmoded and religiously “sub
versive” (St. Louis Review, page
five). To him parents are the pri
mary and ideal-teachers. He con
tends that the school has usurped
the rights of parents.
This is an explosive proposal.
Many priests and sisters are
firmly convinced that children
can be prepared for their First
Communion only as a class. They
consider parents incapable of
“Cheer up! if you do have to stay another
year in the fourth grade—you’ll be able to
lick anyone in the room!”
teaching their own children.
Many parents too do not look
upon themselves as teachers,
They feel that they do not have
the necessary qualifications.
Many dismiss discussion of
this matter summarily; we be
lieve that it must be faced square
ly.
In rdcent years a minority of
pastors have modified the tradi
tional First Communion class.
Parents and their child receive
the Eucharist as a family group
on a specified day. Although some
consider this a step in the right
direction, it merely reflects a
dissatisfaction with the tradition
al class - a realization which
still needs evaluation and refine
ment.
It would seem that the class
First Communion has outlived its
meaningfulness - just as organ
ized Communion Sundays have
outgrown their usefulness. Cus
toms arising from an immigrant
or romantic society need not en
dure in an ecumenical and enlight
ened atmosphere.
The fears of parents as to their
ability to teach their children
could be allayed easily. Classes
or discussion groups could update
their knowledge of the faith and
enable them to communicate it to
their children.
Progress must be made. Pro
gress in customs where the par
ents are ready;'progress in par
ents where customs are en
trenched. Schools are to supple
ment - not to supplant,
ST. LOUIS REVIEW
GEORGIA PINES
Taking Up A Lost Art
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
In the third grade of grammar school I had a
teacher by the name of Sister Agnes Cecelia. She
belonged to a congregation of nuns known as the
Holy Union of the Sacred Heart. Her brother was
the Archbishop of Baltimore, the Most Reverend
Michael J. Curley. Naturally the little tots who
would raise their hand whenever the pastor would
visit the class room would re-
fceive a special goal to aspire
| to from the good Sister.
Sister Agnes had countless
: stories about her brother. One
j which I remember best was the
I fact that the Archbishop never
gowned an automobile. She said
| that everytime her brother set
foot outside his residence some
one would stop and offer a ride. The Archbishop
never saw the need of owning an auto.
GROWING UP I recall that none of the priests
in my home parish owned automobiles. Vivid is
my recollection of the saintly Father Griffin
trodding through snow, bringing Holy Com
munion to some sick soul. Of course everyone in
a ten block radius of the church was a Catholic.
But it was a familiar sight to see the parish
priests walking through the parish. One pastor al
ways took his Irish setter with him. Owning a dog
like that, naturally his name was O'Reilly.
Walking, of course, has long become a forgot
ten art to most Americans. We are a nation on
wheels. Long gone are the “old timers** who
would walk through any kind of weather rather
than miss Mass. Today the leather on our shoes
wears out from contact with the brake pedal rather
than contact with the sidewalk. I was edified
though, right before Easter, when a whole family
in my parish walked to Church through one of the
worst rain storms before they would miss Holy
Thursday’s Mass.
ALL OF THIS is a preface to the fact that I
have taken up the lost art. After Mass the other
morning I thought it good to start walking up to
the Post Office rather than drive. Sister Agnes
was right. As soon as I started out someone of
fered me a ride. As a matter of fact between the
rectory and the Post Office some eleven people
stopped and offered me a lift.
Some of the expressions were funny though.
Ranging from, “is your car broke down, Father?**,
to “aren’t you feeling well?**. Well I made the
Post Office in twelve minutes and it was sure a
relief not to have to look for a parking place.
Time-wise I guess I saved about ten minutes.
INTERESTING, THOUGH, is the different people
1 met. Of those eleven rides offered to me only
one was a parishioner of mine. Eight of those
thoughtful souls I have never seen before.
Its amazing how one could live on the same
street for nearly five years and not even know your
neighbors. Of course over the time I have waved
to some as I drove to and from the rectory. But
last week was the first time that I had ever en
gaged some of them in conversation.
I NOTED, TOO, the different kinds of sidewalks.
One portion of the sidewalk is paved with octag
onal slabs. An art long since abandoned. Another
section of the sidewalk was big concrete slabs.
In conversation with one of my neighbors I re
marked about these different styles and he told
me that at one time the sidewalks up-town were
actually made of wood. I guess somewhat after
the Atlantic City boardwalk.
Then, too, I saw an official marker designating
the elevation of that particular spot above sea
level. With all the rain we have been having here
I think it doesn't have much of a purpose though.
Water covers, manhole covers, and gas meter
covers, having the towns in which they were
made inscribed on each. They provided a moment
of reflection, thinking of the employment and the
economy of the towns they represented. Now most
of these towns are long since on their way out.
Well, today it rained and I am back in the auto
mobile. My neighbors were not on their front
porches and the sidewalks are covered with water.
I look forward to Monday morning and once again
taking up my practice of walking and meeting with
my “new found” neighbors.
‘STATE OF MIND’
The Nature
Of The South
BY REV. LEONARD F. X. MAYHEW
The South, pronounced with a smile or a sneer,
has never been only a point of the compass in this
country. It has always had an identity that marked
it off distinctly from any other section and from the
nation as a whole. The source of this distinctive
ness has much in common with The Late George
Appley’s definition of Boston as a "state of mind.”
States of mind, however, do not
originate and certainly do not
persist as long as this one with
out cause. The quest for the real
nature of southern identity is a
very common motif of southern
literature. The certain sense of
its reality, combined with the
strongly felt need to discover
its meaning, probably accounts
in part for the volume and
variety of creative writing produced by sou
therners and concerned with specifically sou
thern themes.
A new book, published this past Tuesday to
commemorate the semi-centennial anniversary of
Rice University, resolutely seeks to discover the
essential element of southern identify. In THE
IDEA OF THE SOUTH: Pursuit of a Central
Theme (University of Chicago Press, 1964), seven
prominent southerners publish the papers they
submitted to a symposium on this subject. Six of
the seven are academic figures, students of his
tory or literature; the seventh is th e publisher
of the Arkansas Gazette. Their findings, while
not completely satisfactory and certainly not
startling, ought to be of interest to southerners,
those who live in the South (a somewhat distinct
group themselves) and, Indeed, to anyone inte
rested in the continuing history of our nation.
SEVERAL OF the contributors repeatedly re
vert to the “myth** of the South or, more cor
rectly, the several and various myths of the
South. In this sense, a myth is not something
which does not exist but rather a pattern of
ideas, values or aspirations which form in
popular culture and thinking. In simple terms,
the social myths of the South are, as George B.
Tindall says, “mental pictures that portray the
pattern of what a people think they are (or ought
to be) or of what somebody else thinks they
are.” Southern myths derive from its - true or
storied - past: plantation culture, hardy yeoman
aristocrats in the Jeffersonian mold, white su
premacy.
The authors of THE IDEA OF THE SOUTH are
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
SOUTH’S TRAVAIL
Commonweal
Off Base
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
There’s an awful lot happened this week on the
racial front. The most wonderful news comes out
of the Diocese of Mobile-Birmingham, Alabama,
where it was announced Sunday that all Catholic
high and elementary schools would be integrated
come September.
I was listening to this announcement over the
radio, while at the same time reading the May
1 issue of Commonweal. I don’t often disagree ) t
with my friends who edit this excellent weekly
review of public affairs, but this is one time when
I am saddened at the editorial comment concern
ing racial justice and the South.
Commonweal published an article by Dennis
Clark on what he terms are the difficulties over
the Church and Race in Philadelphia. It makes
impressive reading, |
although I would have
much preferred toj
have seen an offi
cial viewpoint on the
situation also pub
lished in the same
issue.
In referring to the
Clark article, Com- _
monweal reminded “how Catholic indifference—
both popular and official—to the plight of the
Negro exists side by side with strong and stir
ring episcopal statements endorsing equality
and civil rights. It has always been possible to
say that the Catholic position on racism has al
ways been clear, but in practice it has not been ^ *
clear at all. .
The editorial also said: “. . .then too, there is
the strong pattern of discrimination in the Knights
of Columbus, the silence of so many Catholic
newspapers in the South, and the persistent evi
dence that very few priests, North or South, feel
they are in a position to write frank letters to the
editors or articles on the subject under their own
name. . .*’
What bothers me about the Commonweal com
ment is that it is an oft-claimed generalization
which is now far from true. For instance, The
Knights of Columbus could do much more in re
gard to racial justice. However, when the first
integrated K of C Council was formed in Geor
gia, I never noticed any comment on this in Com
monweal. Yet this took far more courage on the
part of the Georgia Knights than it did for Dennis
Clark to write his Philadelphia story; it took far
more courage than it takes to write an editorial
under the tolerant mantle of New York City.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
And Commonweal is way off base in its com
ments on Southern Catholic papers. I know of only
two out of almost 15 Southern Catholic weeklies
that come into my office, which can be said to be
silent. The others are quite vocal on the subject
of racial justice, and quite often. What is more,
our own Georgia Bulletin need apoligize to no one
for its stand on race. Commonweal has no strong
er stand.
Furthermore, one wonders whether its editors
saw the Catholic Week, during the racial crisis
in Birmingham last summer and fall. Our fel
low-editor who runs the Mobile-Birmingham
official weekly, Msgr. Frank Wade, showed great
courage in his editorial stands. He pleaded for
justice for the Negro at a time when it would have
been much easier to have remained silent. It «
takes guts even today to publish in Alabama some
of the items and comments that Msgr. Wade has
in the Catholic Week. It could mean a bomb in
the editorial offices. Dear Commonweal editors,
There’s a great difference between publishing on
Madison Ave. and publishing in Birmingham, Ala.
Commonweal is dead wrong when it chides the
Catholic Press of the South for alleged dere
liction of duty. Maybe it could be Justified five
years ago, but certainly not now. Indeed, there
are Catholic weeklies in the Middle and Far West
which could fit the Commonweal critique—and they
have no excuse for their silence.
Just recently, a writer for another Catholic
magazine came from New York and visited the
South. He too, was badly informed or didn't /,
bother to find out the true situation in relation to
the Church’s contribution to Negro aspirations.
All that this writer did was to report the nega- ,
tive aspects of the problem—the failures of some
Catholics to accept the Church’s teachings on ) *
racial Justice. The many positive points went
un-reported. He idolized certain Protestant fight
ers for racial justice—and they deserve it; but
he never mentioned any of the bishops, priests and
laymen in the South who have laboured all their
lives to help the Negro attain justice. Surely, some
of our Church leaders of the past failed in this
regard; but who will cast the first stone? Espe
cially these days, when the fraudulent claims that
the Negro can get Justice only in the North have
been exposed in dramatic fashion.
What is needed here is less criticism of past
failures and more prayerful action for the future.
Also, there is need for greater understanding
of the travail yet to be witnessed in the South as
the Church and its leaders apply in practical fas-
hian the eloquence of Catholic teaching. One has
only to read the pastoral letter of Archbishop
Toolen when he announced to Catholics of Alabama
that their schools would be integrated: “1 know
this will not meet with the approval of many of
our people, but in justice and charity, this must be
done.*’ Need anything more be said?