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I I GEARED TO THE NEWS SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES VOL 2 NO 20 ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1964 $5.00 PpRiYEAR CATHOLIC PRESS ~ 12 THE BISHOP AS PUBLISHER It is not out of place to describe the diocesan newspaper in the biblical words about John the Baptist: A journal shaken by the wind of popular favor? A newspaper clothed in the soft garments of costly advertisements, an ample budget, and door-to-door subscribers? Behold, these are the houses of the great daily press. "But what went you out to see? A prophet. . .a messenger who shall make ready thy way before thy face. What sort of "publisher" is a bishop who sends this modern John the Baptist into our homes? The word itself suggests a vocation leading to profits or to political power. But these are hardly the mo tives of a bishop who assumes the title. If the paper can keep within its budget and if those in politics (and elsewhere) will read it -- the bishop utters a quiet prayer of gratitude for the in tercession of the press’ patron, Saint Francis de Sales. The only profit the Archdiocese seeks is a popu lar increase in knowledge about the total God-man relationship. The only power sought is the persua sion to move our people to make this knowledge come alive in homes, parishes, the market-place and the whole community, Yet the diocesan newspaper cannot exist in a purely spiritual or even religious climate. Editor and staff must meet deadlines, pay costs, and uti lize new methods. They must keep a nice balance between local and worldwide news; between cov erage and significance; between enough popularity to win wide acceptance and enough boldness to take a moral stance — and hold it. John the Baptist won an audience — but to do it vhe lived austerely, and eventually was martyred. In the course of conscience, the Christian press may have to live, as he did, on a diet of locusts and wild honey. It may even clash with 1964’s copies of a brutal Herod, These hardships are but the hallmark of a true messenger, a genuine prophet. As Gerard Sherry, our Editor, has put it, ‘*The whole mystical body is called to be wit nesses ...to W hat He is ... to His Will as He has revealed it." Unless the Catholic newspaper opens for its readers this awareness, it is not a medium of communication at all. It is only a chronicle. In this prophetic work of witnessing, the paper needs more than a mild loyalty and support.These can be earned. What is needed is alertness of staff, deep interest of priests and sisters, subscribers who read it, agree or disagree as it applies Chris tian principles to current issues, — and then speak about it. Perhaps of all the Church’s in struments. the Catholic press most needs involve ment. Involvement calls for more than passing accep tance. One has to be convinced and committed that a certain idea of object or person is impor tant. We might contrast an automated machine and a competent workman as an illustration. The machine (accurate, impersonal and continuous) is like a church paper which simply records events and whose readers simply accept them. But the workman (human, thinking, feeling) is like the Journal that takes sides, presents stimulating ar guments, stirs discussion and possibly action.The Church needs this latter kind of involvement. The Staff must be lnvolved r alive to the great is sues and the small fascinations of the day, ready to put at least a journalistic toe into the apathy of a quiet pool. The priests and sisters, as officers of the dio- cese, are key personnel in this involvement.They are co-workmen with the Catholic press in ex pressing Christian convictions. When they dis agree with the paper’s policy or techniques, they should speak up - not as special pleaders or de fenders of the status quo, but as interested par ties. Except in cases of conscience, their public support should be vocal and enthusiastic. The laity is involved not only in the financial burden. This, in my opinion, is owed to every part of diocesan life, But an Intelligent Catholic, aware of the need of a strong paper, measures the Catholic press, not by the yardstick of his own private opinions, but by that of the teaching of Christ and His Church. When he cancels his sub scription because the paper disagrees with him, the right question seems to be, "why do 1 dis agree with the paper?" Perhaps he is ending his involvement because he disagrees with a funda mental point in Christianity. The paper sometimes is made the scapegoat of his collision in the Church. It was ever thus. Seventy-five years ago, Bishop Publisher BY ARCHBISHOP PAUL J. HALLINAN Richard Gilmour, a staunch prelate who founded the Uni verse in Cleveland, said this, of the paper and its lay editor: ’ "Readers may object to its views in matters of public interest; that is to be ex pected, and a paper that is not objected to will not have much that is worth commend ing. "But no one can successfully maintain that the Universe has ever been other than loyal to Catholic truth and Catholic interests,,and thi9when it re quires some nerve to stand up fo- Catholic principles." "Catholic interests" have broadened since 1889; they are less defensive, more apostolic. A Catholic press cannot draw back its skirts today and avoid the Christian stand on poverty, racial discrimination, freedom of conscience, the marriage code, organized crime, war and peace, world order, and a score of other subjects. The purpose was thus stated by the Council Fathers of Vatican II in these words: ... forming, supporting and advancing public opinion in accord with natural law, and Catholic teaching and precepts." This is involvement — by the paper and its readers. The bishop’s role as publisher is to fos ter it — to limit clearly the "official" charac ter of the paper to pronouncements within the area of the Church's teaching. When these princi ples are expressed, it is the bishop’s duty to see that they are stated rightly. But beyond that, the editor, staff and readers must have allow room to enjoy what Pope John called "the holy liberty" of the children of God. In the exercise of that freedom the diocesan paper does not need to weigh mathematically all opposing views. Such a neutralism is limited to the news column; even here, the editor's judgment is often vital. But in the interpretative press — edi torials, columns, letters — such a neutrality is foreign to the Church's mission in the world. She does not look with neutrality on degrading poverty and segregation, just as she does not blink at de ceit, adultery or atheistic communism. The popular Catholic mind must grow beyond yesterday’s tendency to regard everything found in Catholic Journals as the Catholic position. They are free to present an^ Catholic position touch ing humanity and the social order. The debates of Vatican Council II led the way. If our newspapers evade this, they are not bridging that gulf that has too often separated Christian truth from everyday life. When 11 Quotldlano, Rome’s Catholic daily for 21 years, folded this April, Pope Paul spoke of the reasons - "enormous liabilities and too little circulation." Then, comparing the modern news paper to a "mirror," a "stimulator of judg ment," and a "teacher," he stated bluntly: "It decides on the yes and no of the Kingdom of God in our society." Involvement? Full and alert support of a Catho lic Journal by a Catholic laity? Pope Paul speaks to every Catholic on this point: "It is not possible to have this (contem porary) fund of thought aligned along Chris tian principles without the material, i minders and stimulus contained in the Cath- re- ollc newspaper. ...^the duty of every Catho lic person, at least of every Catholic family , to be united by the spiritual and moral service which only such a vehicle of news and ideas can bring each day." As I read the Georgia Bulletin and a dozen other diocesan papers each week, 1 have come to think of them as precision instruments of Christ and His Church. When Our Lord, as head of the mystical body, employs tools for His salvific craft, they must meet these two specifications: They must be forged in truth, and applied in charity. FORGED IN TRUTH "Fear to offend it, to obscure it, to betray it." Pope John a year ago was repeating the traditional Catholic teaching about truth in the same tone that Leo XIII used when he opened the Vatican archives to historians. But the practice ofCatho- ARCHBISHOP HALLINAN, SHOWN IN HIS OFFICE. lies, clerical and lay, has not always followed the principle. We have often failed to grasp that truth's purpose is not to project "a pretty pic ture"; that truth is not a block of granite, in capable of fresh insights; that it is not "finish ed" except in the mind of God. 1. There is much to recommend, especially today, in an awareness of public relations, the use of "the image." Itdoes Influence people, but what if the image is distorted and incomplete? What if it goes beyond ‘stressing the positive’ and point ing up of progress (both of which are quite prop er) to pretend that all is perfect? "Sweetness- and-light" has surely not been the watchword of the present Council. Both Popes John and Paul have called for an honest examination of the Church today — and that is what the Fathers are doing. They are giving vigorous leadership to Catholics everywhere. The diocesan newspaper should echo today the mind of one of America’s most honest Catholic laymen, Orestes Brownson, He is quoted in Donald Thurman's fine book, The Emerging Layman,dis- agreelng strongly with the "image mentality" in 1860: ‘There are persons, very excellent persons too, placed in positions of trust and in fluence, who think a Catholic publicist should resolutely defend everything Catholic ...and studiously avoid agitating any question on which Catholics may differ among themsel ves, or which may lead to discussions offen sive or disagreeable to any portion of the Catholic community," This was not Brownson’s stand. Nor is it the stand of the Church. Items: In the Georgia Bulletin, we read of sharp disagreement between Cardinal Koe nig and Cardinal Siri on the significance of the Council. Of theologians in conflict on the morality of contraceptive measures. Of lay men expressing strong opposition on civil rights. These will disturb anyone who ac cepts the pleasant catch-phrase, "All Cath olics think alike," But their presentation in a Catholic paper is a solid instance of hon esty. 2. Again, truth is often the outcome of tensions generated in the life of the Church. No one who has read of the first council can doubt this. And no one has portrayed the development of doc trinal truth more effectively than John Henry Newman ... "If a great Idea is duly to be under stood ... it is elicited and expounded by trial and battles into perfection and supremacy ... in a higher world it is otherwise, but here be low, to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often." This change is never a ship wreck of truth; it Is rather a true development of it. "The theology of the Church," writes Newman, "is no random combi nation of various opinions, but a diligent, patient working out of one doctrine from many mater ials. The conduct of Popes, Councils, Fathers betokens the slow, painful anxious taking up of new truths into an existing body of belief." If this is true of doctrine, it is much more evident in the ap plication of the truth to living, pulsing daily situations. Here the Catholic press is at home as it reports controversy, seeks new methods and probes a given condition with the Christian needle. The tree that is the Church has been growing for nearly two thousand years, but it is still the same tree. Saint Peter faced in the conflict in the Apostolic college itself — out of it came the de cision that the Gentiles must not be disadvantaged in the Church. Pope Paul recognizes today the in terplay of controversy in the shaping of Christian message. He has not hesitated to go beyond Pope John and the Council's decree on mass media, in defending the very heart of controversy — the "right to objective information." "It is," he said April 17 of this year, "at once active and passive — the seeking of information, and the possibility for all to obtain it."The Catho lic press, then, must make available the material for good judgment, with plenty of room for new insights and sharp discussion. Items: In the Georgia Bulletin we read, e.g. of the current debate on Catholic schools. Because of tremendous progress, untold sacrifice, and rightful pride, there can be a bristling when they are criticized. Yet.the criticism itself contributes to their pro gress. Although Archbishop Lawrence She- han has noted that neither panic nor pessi mism is warranted, he added "(criticism) will serve a good purpose, if it spurs us to remove as soon as possible every cause of justifiable complaint." Our reading public has the right to information about the de bate now going on. Out of it will come bet ter Catholic education. 3. And finally, truth reaches out toward com pletion. There is reality in the statement that "immoral films do harm to many people." But it is incomplete. The 1964 statement of the Bishops' Committee for Motion Picture, Radio and Television, headed by Archbishop John J. Krol, went farther. It called for "the respon sible efforts of serious film artists to create meaningful work for the attention of mature viewers." The treatment of evil, • "subject to moral restraint," can serve to bring about a deeper knowledge of humanity. A balance is achieved — discourage what is patently harm ful; encourage what develops a taste "for the good, the beautiful, the truly human." Thus, the Christian grows, "testing all things, holding fast to that which is good" under the guidance of Christ and His Church. Sometimes the old formulas need a reexamination so that we may reach a larger truth. Item: The Bulletin's weekly reviews tend toward a maturity suited to today's situa tion. In so doing, they lead readers to a ful ler expression of the whole truth. APPLIED IN CHARITY The diocesan paper serves truth best when it works in charity. This "more excellent way" (in St. Paul’s words) does not inhibit truth, nor falsify it. The genuine love of God and one’s neigh bor could hardly lead us to lie, distort or bury reality — no matter what the apparent temporary good. In selecting and interpreting news the Catholic newspaper must be conscious of the common good; respectful of " privileged information"; and obedient to the contemporary canons of journ alistic good taste. In one sense, these are limi tations on an absolute right to publish everything. In a deeper sense, their discipline is rooted in charity. So, too, are the methods it can best use — persuasion, reasonable argument, and courtesy to all. But to use the press in charity, an editor some times faces delicate decisions. If the truth hurts, shall he print it? If it is necessary in this particu lar news, yes. If it is extraneous to the reader's right understanding, the answer is sometimes no. Only an editor equipped with a deep reverence for both truth and charity is competent to make such decisions. Such reverence rises from humility, an honest quest of the mystery that rises when truth’s call and charity's cry are mingled. It helps us to re member that the abuse of either damages both. An English scholar, Duncan Cloud, warns of cases when we "pretend that there is no real disagreement, that the fact is not really awk ward ..." We need a reminder that not only truth is blurred. Charity is stunted, too. Daniel Calla han in a refreshing essay on "The Quest for Honesty" asks the Church to be patient with its interrogators: "Before it dismisses them, let it put some charitable questions to them. Let it take their questions seriously. We desperately need such openness. That way both honesty and truth can be served." Beyond the ordinary discipline of truth and charity, charity should stimulate our Catholic press to two responses: It must care and it must move. It can do neither without the other. A Catholic driving through a slum should be shocked. If he is caught up in his own racial prejudice, he should sense shame. When he thinks about the personal crisis that can break in the married lives of his friends, or the wholesale agony of millions whose faith is under official persecution — the Christian cannot pretend to be an unaffected island. With the intellect’s concern must go the heart’s compassion. Mercy is a strong component of the virtue of love. So the Catholic editor must reflect that care. Despite repetition, he must share something of the Joy of every parish picnic, the sorrow of every funeral, the awakening of every child confirmed. On these simple things — homey, local, personal, — he builds in his readers a wider concern about injustice in the Congo or the dream of world peace in the United Nations. To leave his readers unaware of the aspirations of society is a grave disservice. The paper must care deeply enough to maintain, week after week, a conscience sensi tive to the needs and hopes of men. Then, with whatever persuasive power at its command, the Catholic paper seeks to move its reader — to share this concern, and act upon it. It may do this simply by a clear call to action. Or it may show how others not of our faith are responding. It may point up alternatives or con sequences. The "consecration of the world" is a long and arduous labor. Unless the press of the Catholic world alerts us to its potentials, this restoration to a sonship in God will slow down to its very opposite pole, Cain’s apathetic ques tion, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" AND THE BISHOP? He has a unique relationship to the diocesan newspaper: Reader and critic from one point of view; sponsor and supporter from another, But because he is teacher of his people, he stands to the paper as a guide. He is accessible to the staff for consultation; open to new ideas and methods; interested in the impact on the Catholic family and general public. To keep wide open the area of freedom where truth can prevail, he exercises forbearance and patience, occasionally courage. Yet he cannot for get that Christ holds him responsible for the de posit of faith among His holy people. To insure that charity will co-exist with truth, he and his priests seek to exemplify always in their lives the love of God and fellow man. Mindful of the trials of editors and the response of readers, the bishop asks for no utopian uniformity of opinion. He accepts Raissa Maritain’s explanation of what a Christian is - "a man who forgives," whether he agrees or not. When the new Georgia Bulletin first appeared, I asked that it enter the community "bearing light and courage — light to expose society's ills as well as its strengths; courage enough to inspire justice and charity in those who might falter along the path." We are honestly examining our shortcomings and we invite candid criticism. But sixteen months later, there exists in my mind no Imperative to change a word of that, nor any doubt that the Bulletin is bearing, week by week, the light and courage we all need.