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& PAGE 8 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1964 CATHOLIC PRESS-10 The Pastor Has A Stake In The Diocesan Newspaper VERY REV. JOHN F McDONOUGH This article will get around shortly to a discus sion of the role of the pastor and the diocesan paper. It will show, I trust, that today's pastor has much to offer in the matter of his life, the experience with people, acquired over years of his mini ft t*/ sUouli be a.i invaluable aid to the editor of a diocesan paper. Before touching on that, however, I would like to indicate briefly why I believe today's pastors are qualified to reflect the spirit of the Church and the spirit of today's world. Surely Bacon and New man's theory that experience is a vital part of education and preparation for progress still had some validity. Indeed, it would seem that exper ience is a vital requisite for capability in any field. it is my contention that pastors by and large have broad experience in their appointed field and are capable of miking a distinct contribution to it. However, there are those who appear to disagree with me. There has been a spate of criticism of priests recently, a general criticism it seems to m* of today's priests. Any group is open to criti cism aid rightly so. And priests do many things that deserve criticism, but I do not believe that today's priests are open to total criticism. IT IS surprising that this criticism of priests because more outspoken and vociferous with the election of Pop.* John XXIII, surely one of the most devoted and de<lica:ed of priests. In this flury of criticism made by those who are the avant garde of freedom for the laity, there seems to be no place for the priest who will not be hurried or bullied into believing things or doing things that his mind cannot accept. Free dom, it would appear, is a one way street with them. Those who do not agree with them are made to appear as reactionists and obscurantists. These thoughts, a prologue to my views on the pastor and the diocesan paper, were occasioned by an article by John Cogley’s in the March 27th issue of Commonweal, entitled "Changing Roles in the Church 1 '. I doubt if I have ever read in a Catholic magazine a more thorough downgrading of the priests of this age as this article presents. 1 do no: wish to discuss here why Mr. Cogley feels as he evidently does about today's priests, nor do I wish to search into his reasons for putting his faith in the future of the Church in today’s semi narians, to the exclusion of today's priests. BUT 1 EX) think it is pertinent to say that I re ject his views in this matter completely. I have known too many priests, both young and old, who have worked long and hard and well for Christ and His Church to accept the position that summarily dismisses them as incompetent, or ever submit to the belief that the priests of this generation and the preceding generations have not been other Christs. They have not been perfect. They have made mistakes. They have been human. But by and large they deserve the accolade "well done, well done," because they have brought the message of Christ to His people. That message has flowered not only in the golden age of the Papacy we have known for the past 100 years, not only in the bishops of the Church who have thrilled the world by their actions in the Sec ond Vatican Council, but also in the flowering of the great laity of the age in which we live. Indeed, I would say, contrary to the views of Mr. Cogley, it is to the everlasting glory of today’s priests that we have an emerging laity, ready to take its right ful place in God's Holy Church. Granted there have been delays, unfortunate de lays it would seem to some in the matter of nec essary progress and necessary change in the Church. Nevertheless, it seems to me these de- Fa.hsr McDonough is Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Rome, and is Dean of the Northwest Deanery of the Archdiocese. This is the tenth in a series of twelve articles on the Catholic Press written exclusively for the readers of the Georgia Bulletin. lays are necessary, for there is a time and a rhythm for all our activities and in all our un dertakings. And the Holy Spirit is in the Chu *ch and has been since the first Pentecost Sunday. So what might seem to us an unnecessary delay may only be the Divine Wisdom of the Holy Spirit slowly maturing the human soul for the full accep tance of the message of Christ. THE MOST important thing now is, as it always has been, the message of Christ and the part that ' His priests living in the world today will take in announcing that message, all of which leads us to the title of this article, "The Pastor and the Dio cesan Paper." A pastor is an individual priest to whom a parish has been given, with rightful possession, with the care of souls to be exercised under the authority of the local ordinary. The primary concern of the pastor then is the care of souls. It is his solemn responsibility to do all things that pertain to the proper realization of the spiritual needs of the individual members of this parish. The extent to which he performs his office in accordance with his responsibilities and powers will determine in large measure the judgment that will be m3*ed out to him by Christ, the Just Judge. The burden is not a slight one and cannot be accepted lightly. The pastor must make full use of all in struments that can profitably carry Christ's mes sage to all under his care. Nothing is more important than the message. It is the message that instructs, the message that persuades, and the message that moves a person to action. The pastor who does his job best is the one who can communicate his message. IT SEEMS to me that 99 9/10% of all our prob lems, social, economic, personal, result from a lack of communication. It has been said rightly, I believe, that if people can communicate, they will find a solution to their problems. When peo ple cannot communicate or do not comm nicate, an inpenetrable barrier is erected between them and the concord and harmony of society in general and family life in particular is destroyed. The pastor, for his part, must use all avenues of communication to keep in touch with his paris hioners, no; the least of which is the diocesan paper. For the diocesan paper is as it were a candle lit in God's honor, which as it shines upon the faithful, illumines them with God's holy truth and disperses the darkness of ignorance. It is a paschal candle standing in the middle of the sanctuary, reflecting the light of other candle bearers. And the diffused light of this candle of Catholic journalism can surprise use. I HAVE always felt the editor of a diocesan paper should be a lay person. No reflection is in tended on the capabilities of priest editors. (1 also feel the same about superintendents of schools.) There are and have been good priests editors, but it seems co me that it must of necessity be an avocation with them, not a voca tion. Any endeavor, other than their pastoral ministry, must be an extra undertaking. And while it may without doubt be well executed for a time, it is nevertheless, subordinate and tem porary. With the lay editor, however, the diocesan paper is a way of life, a vocation to which he brings the skill of his craft fully and completely. This is his life's work and he is dedicated in this special field to his readers. In this respect then, the editor of a diocesan paper can be labeled neither liberal nor conser vative for he should not take sides arbitrarily. There are times when he must be liberal; there are times when he must be conservative. He can only present the true message of Ch*ist as it is unfolded to him by his intelligence and experience. This is an awesome responsibility. Being human he will err often. The editor of a diocesan paper not only needs our prayers, he deserves theml DIRECTORY Report Shows Over Million New Catholics CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 123 Sees. The largest Increases have been noted in New York, 78,280; Brooklyn, 72,445; Paterson, 59,279; Los Angeles, 55,033; Philadelphia, 45,683; Washington, D. C., 42,281, and San Antonio, 42,271. Eight ad ditional Sees recorded in creases of over 25,000. The directory lists 244 mem bers of the Hierarchy, an in crease of seven — five cardinals, 32 archbishops, and 207 bishops. An increase of 788 in the clergy, brings the total of or dained priests to 57,328, the largest ever recorded. There are now 35,077 diocesan priests an increase of 612, and 22,251 priests of religious com munities, an increase of 176. Listed for the first time are 1,629 newly ordained priests. Pope John XXIII, two arch bishops, three bishops and 841 priests are listed in the Necro logy. Professed Religious per sonnel include 12,132 Brothers, an increase of 164, and 180,- 015 Sisters, an Increase of 2,861. THE DIRECTORY reports 16,930 parishes with resident pastors, an increase of 140, and 515 parishes without re sident clergy—a record total of 17,445 Catholic parishes in the 50 States. Also listed are 4,594 missions, 1,502 stations and 12,076 chapels — an increase of 48 places where Mass is offered regularly. A high of 14,370 separate educational institutions, 185 established during 1963, in clude; 112 diocesan semi naries; 459 religious com munities' seminaries or novl- Mates and scholasticates; 295 colleges and universities; 1,- 557 diocesan and parish high schools; 901 private high schools; 10,452 parish ele mentary schools, and 450 pri vate elementary schools. There are also 144 protective insti tutions, with 17,443 youths in attendance. Full-time teaching staffs of all educational institutions un der Catholic auspices increased by 7,789, to a record total of 191,125, comprising 11,697 priests; 1,126 scholastics; 5,- 726 Brothers; 104,441 Sisters, and 68,135 lay teachers. There are 52 fewer priests; 21 more scholastics; 264 more Bro thers; 2,098 more Sisters and 5,458 more lay teachers than a' year ago. NEW educational institutions Include five diocesan and five religious communities' semi naries established during 1963. The 112 diocesan seminaries report enrollments of 26,701 seminarians, an Increase of 1,454, while the 459 religious communities’ novitiates and 'scholasticates have 22,049 stu dents, or a decrease of 278, giving a total of 48,750 candi dates for the priesthood. The year 1945 generally is considered the beginning of the nation's schools enrollment boom. A comparison compiled by the directory shows how Catholics have met the demands of supporting and expanding their schools while contribut ing tax support for public schools. The comparison of the number of schools and total students reported in the 1945 directory with the same cate gories in the new directory shows 3,314 more institutions, an increase of 33.7%; 3,449, 302 more students, an Increase of 133.2%. UnduAance in all iti l/vimd! 9jf it^i wAitten, utAile U . . Sutter & Mcietlan 1422 RHODES HAVERTY BLDG. JAckson 5-2086 WHCftt INSURANCE is A PftOrKSSlON NOT A SIDELINE ON SITE OF THE ASCENSION—Built over the traditional site of Christ’s Ascension, on the summit of the Mt. of Olives, east of the City of Jerusalem is this Crusader Chapel. Ascension Thursday, a holy day of obligation will be ob served on May 7. WAS HOAXED’ Cardinal Eases Birch Flaying ARCHBISHOP ROBERTS Comments Raise Birth Control Controversy (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) do not know of any more dedi cated anti-communist in the United States than Robert Welch" and added "I unhesi tatingly recommend him to you and endorse his John Birch Soc iety.'.’ In his letter to Davis, the Cardinal said: ", . . my memory was at fault concerning my letter of April 28, 1960, to Mr. Craw ford. Since I did not specifi cally state in that letter, that it was not to be published, per mission certainly could have been Implied. "MY STATEMENTS were made made with an if, and were conditional on the accur acy of the Information I had received. Under the circums tances I now feel that my state ments were unjustified. "Because of my own dedica tion to the fight against the at heistic communistic con spiracy, 1 certainly do not vent to do any harm to fellow bat tlers in the same cause. "While I think the Crawford letter is now too out of date for continued use, therefore, 1 should be glad to have Mr. Welch to print this letter in the bulletin of the John Birch, Society if he wished to do so. "And with my regret at the temporary worry caused many good people by the hoax perpe trated on me, 1 send you and your associates all good wishes and kind regards." (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3) sically immoral and no opinion to the contrary may be followed." In response to Archbishop Roberts' difficulty with the arguments against contracept ion from reason, Father O'Leary said: "THE FACT that the Church's teaching is clear does not imply that the arguments in favor of it from reason alone are clear and immediately con clusive. It is essential to re mind ourselves that God has given us the Church as a teacher in faith and morals precisely to provide the certainty and security one would not have if left to unaided reason. . . "Opinions may sometimes be expressed or reported," Father O'Leary said, "which appear contrary to the essential truth taught by the Church. This re grettably causes confusion; but through th e stimulus of such opinions, the essential truth should be enabled to be more clearly seen." IN THE controversial in terview Archbishop Roberts compared the Catholic attitude on sex with the Augustian at titude on speech, which main tained that one must not tell a lie even to save another from being murdered, because there must be no discrepancy between though and word. "Most Protestants today have applied the same kind of argu ment to the organs of sex which we Catholics now apply to the organ of speech, namely that you must take into account the whole purpose of nature," he said. "THE WHOLE end of mar riage is not to have as many children as possible," the Archbishop added, "but as many as can be brought up to lead happy and useful lives." father Benet Innes, O.S.B. of Downside Abbey, writing in th e Universe, said; "Some of the philosophical arguments against birth control have been questioned and many theolo gians are saying that it would be safe to rest our attitude on the teaching authority of the Church rather than on the philosophical arguments. . . "SCIENTIFIC advances have reached a point where it is not yet absolutely clear on which side of the moral line the use of the 'pill* lies and people are urging th e Church to make a pronouncement. The Church has not spoken simply because scientific matters are never as simple as they seem to those who take their science from newspapers," Father Innes said. Summer Study In New Orleans Loyola University Registration June 15-16 Classes start June 17 •Arts and Sciences .Business Administration Music Men’s, Women’s Residence Halls New $1,475,000 student center New Orleans Offers: . historic sites . Art galleries . museums . Swimming, sailing . Fabulous Food . Ante-bellum homes Students tour Place d'Armes WRITE DIRECTOR, Summer session Office Equipment Business Machines Sales-Service-Supplies PHONE 525-6417 PHONE 525-6417 172 WHITEHALL STREET, S.W. ATLANTA 3, GEORGIA Tbt Holy Pttbtr’t Minion Aid for tbt Oritnttl Church Near East mission world. The Missions—Wiiat’s Your Part? IF YOU WERE A PRIEST, YOU’D SUFFER AND NEVER COUNT THE COST. In INDIA. ERITREA. ETHIOPIA. EGYPT. IRAN, you’d live with hatred, ex haustion, lonlincss. disease. You’d cnerffire yourself, in order to admin ister ihe sacraments ... If you were » S«*W. you’d wash out the sores g •'* # r>h^n , 'd 'eo«rs tesch the cate- y h'*m In fetid, bamboo huts, care f*»r *he blind the aired, orphans, the paor . . . You’d be; in other words, a missionary . . . You’d live in a hut not fit for dogs, sleep on the ground, cat w’^at the natives cat. Ycu’d wear yourself out. and die, probably, be- for you reached fifty . . . This is the It's peopled by pagans— for whom Christ died. It’s peopled, too, by Catholics like ourselves. Catho lics too poor to support a priest or Sister . . . For 27c a day (less than the price of a pack of cigarettes) you can train a native priest . . . For 33c a day you can FEED A FAMILY of Palestine Refugees . . . Not much money, you say? Is isn’t much for us who have so much. In the Near East mission world, how ever, 81 is a fortune! . . . For each of our priests and Sisters actually in mission work, we need ten "missionaries” like you at home. We need people at home who pray every day for the success of what our priests and Sisters do. We need housewives, mailmen, stenographers, engineers, who will “do without” and "make do” in order to send a monthly sacrifice ... Is SI, $5, 810, S50, every month too much to ask? Only you can say . . . What’a it worth to save a soul? WHAT YOUR SACRIFICE WILL DO □ SI A MONTH — Food, clothing, medical attention for lepers. Send us SI now. and say you want to join oui DAMIEN LEPER CLUB. ;Q $2 A MONTH — A blanket, shoes, eye-glasses, for an orphan boy at Father Poggi’s home In CAIRO, EGYPT.-—Mark your sacrifice, “Father Poggi.” □ $5 A MONTH — The rent-money to house a family of Pal estine Refugees in BETHLEHEM. —Write to us. □ $8.32 A MONTH — The cost of training a native priest. The entire course of training lasts six years, costs $100 a year, $600 altogether. — Write to us. □ S10 A MONTH — What it costs to feed a family of Palestine Refugees — Arabs who lost everything as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. — Write to us. □ $12.50 A MONTH — The cost of feeding, clothing, housing, and training a native Sister. — We’ll send you "your” Sister’s name and address. You may write to her. She will write to you. □ $50 A MONTH — Mark your gift "Stringless" and we'll use is where it’s needed most. It will buy medicine for a clinic, books for a mission school, buy a new roof for a mission chapel. □ $75 A MONTH — Buys a complete medical kit for a mis- sioner's use. □ $200 A MONTH — Will build, in only one year, a brand- new mission school. — You may designate the school as a perma nent memorial to your family or your loved ones. — Write to us MAKE A WILL? REMEMBER THE MISSIONS —OUR LEGAL TITLE: THE CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION. jMillear fist (Missions FRANCIS CARDINAL SPILLMAN, President M»ff. Je»e?Ji T. Rye*, Nefl See** Reed elt ceNtmuakatleai tet CATHOLIC NEAR EAST WELFARE ASSOCIATION 480 Lexington Avt. at 46th St. Now York 17, N. Y.