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PAGE 4 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. U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 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.