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GEORGIA BULLETIN
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1964
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
SHVINO GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHMM COUNTIES
'W s
Min Official Organ of the Archidocese 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
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 Altanta, Ga.
2699 Peachtree N. E.
P. 0. Box 11667
Norths ide Station
Atlanta 5, Ga.
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Foriegn $6.50
‘Wait For The Church’
Saint for Our Day
GEORGIA PINES
‘Some Catholic Hermits’
The opposite of the "big lie"
is the much more difficult to
counter "half-truth." A clean-
cut stand for or against some
thing makes an easy target. The
half-truth, however, can become
so convoluted that it is difficult
and even dangerous totrytosort
out its various strands. An ex
ample of this hybrid mentality
appears relatively common
among some who would style
themselves "moderates" in the
Church. Their advice on every
question of change can be para
phrased: "Wait for the Church."
All enthusiasm or anxiety for
the adjustments demanded by to
day's renewal of Catholic life
will encounter this lukewarm and
killing response. Initiative in the
field of liturgical promotion for
example, is disposed of with
this simple and pious-sounding
retort.
This is a half-truth. In other
words, it does contain some
truth; those who reject it must
not reject at the same time the
truth it does contain. It is cer
tainly true that, as Catholics,
we must wait for Church authority
to act in certain areas. We may
not take the law into our own
hands in liturgical matters, for
example, and create a kind of
ecclesiastical vigilante govern
ment by whim and taste. Such
a tragic step would create only
anarchy and chaos. The com
petence of the Hierarchy to
legislate for the Church is an
integral element of Catholic
faith.
On the other hand, it seems
to us that the accent in "Wait
Nothing in recent years has
been as important to the politi
cal health of Georgia than the
series of Supreme Court de
cisions on the apportionment of
state legislatures. The Court
delivered the state from the
stranglehold of complete rural
domination by striking down the
infamous and unjust county unit
system. Within the past few days
the Court has again spoken on
this subject. It has decided that
both houses of a state legisla
ture must be apportioned ac
cording to population patterns
rather than according to geo
graphy. This principle contrasts
both with the traditional pattern
in state governments and also
with the national legislature,
where the upper house or Senate
is based on geographical divis
ions and the lower house is
based on population.
The political effect of the drive
for re-apportionment, sparked
both by the Court decisions and
by urban political unrest, has
been felt in most states and
particularly in Georgia. A shift
of power is at hand. The rural
counties, with their shrinking
populations and their agrarian
conservatism, used to hold a
tight fist around the purse
strings of the state budgets. City
dwellers, who paid the bulk of the
taxes, rightly felt that they were
not adequately considered in the
spending of public money. Their
political voice was artificially
kept in line with the political
structure of the rural areas.
for the Church" is on "wait"
rather than on "Church." The
point seems to be that we should
hold back as far and as long
as possible, until we are posi
tively forced by obedience to
take a grudging step forward.
Alas, such an attitude seems to
limit the Church to some im
personal, far away Roman
bureaucracy. On the contrary,
the Church is a living reality
here and now, in its members,
each of whom has a responsi
bility to contribute by his
initiative to its full vigor. The
mind of the Church, as the mind
of every living being, forms it
self slowly and gradually from
the experience of the entire body,
measured against principle and
pertinent standards.
In our present context, Church
authority has spoken. Pope John,
Pope Paul and the Fathers of
the Vatican Council, have
emphasized the "Holy Liberty"
and responsibility of all
members of the Church. They
have encouraged a spirit of Re
newal and free Speech among the
various parts of the Church. If
we have been waiting for the
Church, the time has arrived
to bestir ourselves. The teach
ing Church has told us to ab
sorb the spirit of renewal and
reform. The implication of all
that happened in the past few
years is that we must bear the
burden of responsibility for the
Church and within the Church,
always keeping to the limits of
divine law and the dictates of
competent ecclesiastical author
ity.
The issues to remember in a
political adjustment of this kind
are two: it is imperative that our
democratic structures accurate
ly represent the communities and
people they govern; secondly, in
the concern for justice to the
majority, the interests and needs
of the minority must be pro
tected. Representatives and
balanced democracy is certain
ly the political ideal.
Governor Sanders has won
from the courts time for the
state legislature to re-apportion
itself along the lines of the
Supreme Court decision. Pro
vided that the task is approached
with honesty and determination
to make the quickest possible
adjustment, we support the
Governor's plan. Ideally, at
least, v the local legislature
ought to know best the particu
lar problems of the state.
The threat of court action
should provide a stimulus to
the legislators to accomplish
their difficult and sometimes,
personally painful task. We hope
that in their deliberations, they
will not ignore the closely re
lated problem of the multiplicity
of small counties, each duplicat
ing more or less well the others'
services. The consolidation of
several of these counties into
larger and more efficient units
would go a long way^ toward
solving our archaic political
problems.
Twenty years ago the Trapplsts came to Georgia
It was a beautiful spring morning that day in March
when twenty monks got off the train and proceeded
by automobile to the Honey Creek Plantation, some
twenty five miles southeast of Atlanta, near Con
yers.
Rumors were prevalent around the state that
“some Catholic hermits were looking for some
caves to live in," and so it was no wonder that
even the war news (March 1944) took a back page
that morning for the monks.
Led by Abbot James Fox,
the band of twenty monks took
up their new residence in a
barn partly occupied by cows.
War restrictions on building
materials necessitated the
monks cutting their own lumber
and finally, by December of that
year, the monks moved into
their new home. It was by no
means a palace, but it was far cry from the cows I
THREE YEARS passed before the Monks began
work on a permanent monastery. In the meantime,
barracks-type buildings provided the necessary
facilities for monastic life.
Soon the impact of the Monks on the community
began to be felt. TTieir beautiful herd of cattle,
tilled fields, dairy products and their ever-fa-
mous Monastery Bread became a conversation
piece in many an Atlanta home.
FARMERS FROM all over the state came to
view the know-how of the “prayer men". In an
age when farmers all over the country were
leaving their farms, the monks provided inspira
tion to many a discouraged man—of—the—field.
Even politicians got into the act. All were an
xious to get the “block vote'* of the monks, es
pecially since they never talked I
HOWEVER, discouragement came to the monks
when Abbot Dunne died and Abbot James Fox left
to become head of the Kentucky foundation. An
energetic Abbot, Robert McGann, was elected head
of the Conyers community and immediately work
BY DR GARY MACEOIN
Left-wing President Nkrumah of Ghana is one
of the most solidly entrenched of African
dictators. Yet on one issue he has failed to get
rubber-stamp approval from his handpicked parli
ament. That was bill to outlaw polygamy.
It is not that popular opinion was opposed. On
the contrary voters as a body were completely
unconcerned. Ghanians, like most Africans, still
follow the tribal custom buying their wife, and
the cost of living is today so high that the average
man finds it very hard to ac
cumulate the price of a single
bride. The opposition was in the
ranks of the higher civil
service, and the new in
dustrialists and businessmen.
No status symbol is more signi
ficant in Africa than the num
ber of one's wives. For a man
in the public eye a big auto
mobile and a mansion are not
enough.
POLYGAMY and related customs create pro-
was begun on the permanent monastery, which was
formally opened in December of 1960.
Proof conclusive of the good will which the
monks enjoy is the fact that on the last day of
the "open house" before the building became a
cloister, over 45,000 persons visited the newly-
constructed building.
A GUEST register in the hallway records the
names and remarks of guests who have travelled
to Conyers for days of prayer, contemplation and
meditation. Professional men, laborers, clergy
men of all faiths all join in one accord to thank
the monks for their inspirtion and spiritual en
couragement.
The present Abbot, Dorn Augustine Moore, was
a parish priest in Kentucky when he decided to
become a monk. Succeeding Abbot Me Gann in
1957, it was Father Augustine who supervised the
final construction of what is now termed the
largest church structure in the state of Georgia.
THE THREE bells in the tower were installed
in an unusual way. As part of a training program,
units of the Georgia Air National Guard, headed
by B/Gen. Homer Flynn, installed the bells by
using helicopters.
When ones sees the enormous church build
ing it is difficult to imagine that this was con
structed by monks who at the same time carried
on their studies, choir duties, farming etc. One
visitor, on hearing this, remarked, "its no wonder
then that the monks get up at 2 a.m."'
MONASTICISM dates back to the fourth century.
In this atomic age it would seem that this Rule
of Life would be antiquated. Indeed, it is a para
dox what while we are engaged in what is known
as a practical way of life nine monasteries have
been founded in this country alone since World
War IL
Vespers on Sunday afternoons, which are ob
served by many, many visitors neverfail to evoke
remarks of inspiration and admiration. It is
well worth a Sunday afternoon drive to see the
men who are constantly asking Almightly God to
shower His blessings on those who are "too
busy" to pray.
bably the most obstinate obstacle to the im
plantation of Christianity in Africa. In tribal
law and practice, woman has always been re
garded as a chattel. For a father it was a great
triumph to produce many daughters. He could
sell them to suitors while they were still little
more than children. The girl had no voice in
the transaction. She might not even know the
man. What she knew was that she had to work
for him. She tilled the fields and tended the
^crops’ while he sat smoking and figuring out
ways to buy additional wives whose labor would
increase his wealth and comfort.
The system was not totally devoid of benefit
for the woman. If she produced many children
and was also a good worker on the land, she
acquired authority and prestige. Indeed in many
places the women themselves have been more
opposed than their consorts to efforts to get the
men to abandon a life of idleness and take over
the heavy farm chores. If the man did his own
work, they argued, he would have no further
need of them once they ceased to bear children.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Reapportionment Plans
NKRUMAH
Your World And Mine
NEGRO TRAVAIL
An Affront
To Christ
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
We were outside the church and this fellow
Catholic was complaining about the fact that a
Negro boy had sat next to him. It's not that he
minded the boy being in church. "After all,
God's house is open to all." But he was bothered
by the fact that the boy chose his pew. Further
more, he expressed surprise that the Negro boy
had gone to Communion, as if this was some
thing not quite right.
A Christian conscience is rasped by such re
marks and can only be alarmed by its implica
tions.
IMAGINE, here comes a son of God, bathed in
the saving waters of
Baptism, most re
cently nourished with
the Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Jesus
Christ; one who was
sufficiently clean and
decent to be accept
able to Almighty God;
one who was so close
to the Lord that he
could feed upon Christ; but this white man (and
fellow Catholic) didn’t think him worthy to sit next
to him.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
The insufferable snobbery of this affront to
ChristI It seems tragic that some of us who are
either too lazy or too evil or too apathetic to
go to Communion ourselves should contemptuous
ly refuse a common courtesy to a Christ-bearing
Negro boy. How far'removed from the real Catho
lic Faith have some people fallen?
A Fundamentalist will stand in awe of the
Eucharist; a Calvinist will at least give It the
honor of horrified contempt. But some so-
called Catholics ignore It and refuse to pay
It the least bit of attention. They are so absorbed
in their own little pet theories, so long dis
proved, so often condemned by Holy Mother the
Church, that they lose Christ in a little bit of
color.
MIND YOU, I throw no stones. It is a simple
fact that if I had had their background, their
experiences, I would be right wifh them; just as
in all probability I would not have stood with
Mary, but rather I would have Joined the
jeering mob if I had been present at Calvary.
And I don't think it would be a rash judgment to
suggest that given the background and the ex
periences, many of us would be like the man who
stood outside the church to complain of the
Negro boy in the same pew.
The horror of this incident is that this fellow
Catholic, and many more like him, have been
led astray by a sin-caused and schism-causing
lie. For the sake of a fraction of an inch of
skin; for the sake of a mere difference of color,
they are, in deed and in action, willing to throw i
away Christ. What a tragic finale, to segregate'
oneself from Christ in order to maintain segre
gation.
We indeed have a tremendous job of education,
prayer and penance to make up for our de
ficiencies in this particular area and this time
in our history is as good as any.
Almost a year to the day after the late
President Kennedy presented the measure to
Congress, the Civil Rights Bill passed its last
major hurdle, the Senate. Its proponents now
hope that the House can agree to amendments
at the joint conference and have it ready for
President Johnson’s signature by July 4 —
Independence Day.
And almost to the day, Martin Luther King
was still leading non-violent protests against
discrimination — this time in the venerable,
Catholic city of St. Augustine, Florida. One
day the Negro integration leader was languishing
in a St, Augustine jail; the next day he was being
honored by Yale University with a doctorate for
his non-violent efforts in behalf of his fellow
Negroes. It's a curious world and its people
are even curiouser.
And while the country prepares itself for the
various civil rights tests that will obviously
come once the law is implemented, men still
hate and their brothers are still denied the full
fruits of citizenship.
It's going to be a long hot summer in more
ways than one. Thousands of students from all
parts of the country are converging on Mississippi
to help in voting registration for Negroes, long
deprived in that State of this elementary right.
The Civil Rights Bill might make many of these
type of pressures unnecessary but they'll have
to go on demonstrating and the like until the
racists bend before the law, if not in thqlr
hearts.
The Negro who sits next to us in the pew has
his work cut out for him. The full weight of the
Federal Government is about to come on his side
to assure him through legislation of rights which
his fellow citizens have long denied him. He, too,
must have a change of heart. The Negro, too,
must learn to love in the same manner as we
demand of his white brethren.