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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1964 the Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA BULLETIN SfRVINO GEORGIA'S 71 NORTMMw COUNTIES HUM 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 Kieraan ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew Member of the Catholic Press Association 2699 Peachtree N. E. P. 0. Box 11667 Norths ide Station Atlanta 5, Ga. and Subscriber to N. C. W. C. News Service Telephone 231-1281 Second Class Permit at Altanta, Ga. U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foriegn $6.50 Housing Code Rededication 1964 GEORGIA PINES Solo Pilgrimage It is gratifying to see that Atlanta is cracking down on those who abuse the Housing Code. In adequate sanitation and over crowding has been allowed for too long in many areas where land lords can do much better. Technically, these overcrow ded houses may not be slums. They are to be found in relati vely good neighborhoods and in many instances they are in good condition. They are increasing in number as avaricious owners become more aware of their possibilities of. profit. These possibilities lie in the needs of strange and desperate people who are usually illiterate, either absolutely or in the Eng lish language,and can easily be taken advantage of because they have no resources. When three or four families are crowded into an ordinary dwelling, with limited cooking and sanitary facilities, how can the normal decencies of life be maintained? How is it possible for men, women andchildren to avoid descending to the low level of the conditions under which they live? Every well-administered city has a code to govern the oc cupancy of houses. While design ed primarily to safeguard health, its enforcement is also concern ed indirectly with morals. The source of this conscienceless hu man exploitation is the sin of greed, a sin which in turn pro duces conditions and an atmos phere 'conducive^ to other sins. How adequate is this code in the cities in which we live and how rigidly is it enforced? These are questions which as a matter of social justice and moral wel fare should be put to the govern ing body of every city, and a clear answer demanded. These abominable and dange rous living conditions are not the products of a period of depres sion. They exist in times of un precedented prosperity. And they exist because avaricious people are permitted, through public in difference or official neglect, to prey upon their fellow human be ings. In time even the best of these crowded dwellings will be slums and the whole idea of slum clearance will become even more of a grim jest than it is at present. BY REV. R. D. KIERNAN It was a hot Sunday afternoon as I prepared to take off for Cleveland, Ohio, to attend the twenty- second annual convention of Serra International. The temperature had already reached 93degrees, and when I answered the phone and learned that my two traveling companions were cancelling out, believe me, the thoughts of a seven hundred mile trip alone were anything but appealing. As the trip developed it proved most interesting. The Sunday afternoon drive up through Cleveland, Georgia and into Blue Ridge proved a maxi mum of beautiful scenery. Crossing into Tennessee, via Copperhill proved most inte resting. Acres upon acres of hills with not a scrap of vege tation shows the terrible effect of uncontrolled air pollution. But I stopped overnight in a motel just inside the Kentucky border. The next morning I drove to a Church in the adjoining town. There 1 found vol unteers of the Christian Family Movement who were assisting the rural pastor in taking up a census. These volunteers (and their families)had donated their two weeks of vacation time to come south and engage in this apostolic work. Mountain driving can become tedious especially when you realize that you average about 35 miles- per-your. It was no wonder then that I welcomed the interstate highway between Columbus and Cleveland, As I drove off the interstate highway Just outside Cleveland and pulled into a gasoline station, another Gainesvillian drove in behind me. Golfing great Tommy Aaron was on his way to Cleveland too, to play in the Cleveland Open, The Serra convention drew two thousand dele gates, plus the fact that many brought their fami lies with them. One Cardinal, twenty four Arch bishops and Bishops and some one hundred and eighty-five priests made for packed ‘'housing" conditions in this port city. Highlights of the convention, to me, were an inspiring address given at the Governor’s dinner, by Bishop Wright of Pittsburg, Pa., and a panel Calabar on the fsteaming west coast of Africa is as thriving a Catholic mission as any I visited during a three month Journey that brought me to fifteen countries of that vast continent. Schools under Catholic management play a major part in the region’s education system. Catholic hospi tals are outstanding. As in all of Nigeria, the proportion of catechumens to Catholics is high, promising a continuation of the Church’s rapid progress. Bishop Moynagh of Calabar has long been particularly concerned with preparing Catho-' lies to play their part in the development of the newly independent state, the most populous in all of Africa. He has put a lot of money into a printing plant in which he produces a magazine of information and opinion, one of the country’s two Catholic publications for general read ership, He also does everything in his power to help outstand ing students to pursue higher atudies in European and Ameri can universities. discussion by merrbers of the Oklahoma City Serra Club. Bishop Wright scored the juvenile mentality of many of today’s parents as a result of the Ameri can emphasis on teen-ages. * We need to begin much earlier to recognize our young people as adult men and women. Instead we delay maturity ... and we are ending up with a sort of ’hardy- perennial* teen ager...” A panel discussion by the members of the Okla homa City Serra Club entitled, "Christ in the market place" was a most interesting presenta tion of the historic evils generated by a century of segregation. A Catholic’s conscience and obliga tion were sensibly and clearly stated by four busi ness and professional men and drew a standing ovation by the assembled delegates. This was not an emotional appeal, but a rational discussion by four men who take their love of God as a part of their daily life. Down U.S. 23, once again through the mountains and heading for home, I found that there really is a place called Appalachia, and the Church is staffed by Glenmary missionersl I notice that our own (Georgia) Glenmary Fath ers in Dahlonega have volunteers too. Painting the Church I found some college students who are donating a month of their summer vacation to apos tolic work.Talking to and watching these dedicated senior boys convinces me that we still have young men who don’t wear the badge of "teen-ager." When Atlanta was charted as a Serra Club ten years ago, it was number 120. Today Serra has nearly 300 clubs. South America, England, the Phillipines and Italy give the organization a truly international aspect. The 30 year old organization is named for Fath er Juniper Serra, the famed Spanish Franciscan who created the California missions. The club’s purpose is devoted to an aim voiced by a Bishop - advisor who said that the clubs ' should be Cath olic Action universities for selected groups of Catholic laymen." Serra is devoted to fostering priestly vocations and developing enduring friendships among Catho lic men. Just for a few days before I met him, he had received an extremely distress ing letter. It was a report from a group of stu dents whom he had recently placed in the United States. They had to travel a considerable distance to Sunday Mass, they said. And when they reached the church, the reception from the white congregation was chilling. When one of them entered a seat, the occupants moved to another. They were shunned as they lef the church, neither people nor priest exchanging a single word with them. It was, they wrote, quite clear to them that they simply were not wanted. "Can nothing be done," the bishop asked me, "to get American Catholics to understand the ef fect of such thoughtless bad manners. These are cultured young men. On their return home, they will be catapulted into top positions in education, business, are! government. They went to Ameri ca with a sense of gratitutde both to the Catholic Church and your country for helping them get up in the world. They will come back full of bit terness and disillusionment, convinced by their own experience that all our professions of op position to racism are hypocritical." CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 FOR JULY 4 A Sense Of Dedication by GERARD E. SHERRY July the Fourth is a good time to meditate on where we are going and what we are about in this critical period of history. The celebration of In dependence Day means so little to so many of our citizens. It is merely an excuse for more recrea tion in our already over-leisured life. And while some of meaning of our inde-, pendence, some oth ers go to the other extreme, suggesting ( that only by flag- waving are we pa triotic. Certainly,; the American flag should have more meaning than it does in many communi- 1 ties. But I think its true purpose and symbolism have been pushed into the background by those who wave it as they kick the Negro or the Jew; by those who callously desecrate the flag, using it to waft the flames of prejudice and bigotry. Some who read this column no doubt will ask, ’’Why should flag wavers be attacked?’* and I will answer, "They should not be if the flag is used as an instrument of love and unity of the people." All that I am against are those who try to sell the idea that the mere waving or saluting of the American flag guarantees liberty and justice for all. Alas, this is not so. The sense of dedication needed by our people goes beyond the mere term of * ’Americanism"; it goes beyond the clever cliches of the writers and orators; it goes beyond the double talk of the politicians. Indeed, it reach es out to permeate every level of society and every activity within that society. We face a well-disciplined foe; one who is very sure of himself; who has a zeal thatfew of us have; wHb believes dearly that his cause is right. Many of our people are not zealous. They are geared to the pursuit of happiness only in its ma terial sense. They view everything in black and white terms of Communist and anti-Communist. They see citizens of other countries as people, not persons endowed with a divine dignity and eternal destiny. They view hardship and suffering as punishments meted out by an angry God. They never view them as avenues towards liberation and salvation. The image of America is certainly one of tre mendous, bustling industries. Our huge farms. and our towering skyscrapers are symbols of our vast activity. But beneath it all we have waxed fat. We have come to believe that we are the cho sen people. However, if we are the chosen ones, we do not act like it. We have come to look upon the Bountiful God as our partner instead of our Mas ter. We thank Him occasionally (perhaps) for the many benefits He has bestowed upon us, but we ap proach it all as if it were our right instead of our privilege. We have waxed fat. Despite ourselves, we have lived up to many of our responsibilities through out the world. We have assumed a position of leadership not by desire — only by accident. That leadership is yet to be tested. In the coming years we may have to swallow our pride as a member of the world community. We will have to face the fact that we will suffer reverses which cannot all be attributed to the Communist menace. We will find new nations viewing us with distrust; on some world issues we will find them aligning themselves with the Com munist world; and we will have to accept the fact that they are not necessarily anti-American in do ing so. Many of us seem to have the idea that anyone who disapproves of the actions of the United States or its allies is Immediately pro-Communist and anti-West. What is all this leading up to? Obviously, if we wish to continue to be a leader in the world, then a sense of dedication in our way of life, in our spiritual heritage, has to be awakened in the minds and hearts of individuals. This sense of dedication cannot be merely at the top level of government. It has to seep below to families and individuals. All this will require effort and sacrifice. After all, dedication to an ideal implies sacrifice and service. Last but not least comes the spiritual dedication in which we view communism and secu larism as menaces to our way of life; in which we improve ourselves spiritually to the extent that we will be wise in the ways of God and all this for one purpose — of being prepared. When the time of testing comes — as it surely will — we and our children must not sell out to the enemy merely to conserve our material abun dance. This is the real issue —and let the critics rave. Are we dedicated to our country enough spiri tually to sacrifice our comforts in its interests? This is the question which plagues us now and will continue to plague us until we look beyond cre ature comforts to the better life in which all men are free; in which we see Christ in every color, every person, and every nation. This July Fourth is but another opportunity for us to come face to face with the essence of true patriotism — love. Are we big enough to see this; are we loyal enough to embrace it; are we dedi cated enough to care about it? If we are, then let us by all means wave the flag. Economic Responsibility Pope Paul's talk last week to the Christian Union of Business men and Executives was a strong restatement of Christian social principles. It reflects again the Holy Father's concern for the relationship of the Church to the modern world. These are two aspects of the Pope's remarks which seemtous worthy of particular mention. The first of these is his insistence on the primacy of man. Said the Holy Father; “You have understood that which the pontifical encycli- AN ALTAR BOY NAMED "SPECK" "Would you believe it? Father jumped the farthest of all!” cals have continually affirmed; namely, that there must be a re ligious coefficient to give the best solution to the human relation ships deriving from industrial organization. This religious co efficient is not to be employed as a simple paternalistic and useful corrective to temper the passio nate and easily subversive ex plosion of the working class against businessmen. It is to dis cover rather in the light of re ligion the fundamental deficiency of a system which pretends to consider as purely economic and self-regulatory the relationships born of the industrial phenom enon. It suggests those other re lationships which must be inte grated, even regenerated, ac cording to the vision emanating from the light of Christianity; first man, then other things. It is good to note how our religion, as it proclaims the primacy of God over all things, at the same time stresses the primacy of man over temporal realities," The Holy Father pointed out also that production is a work of collaboration between owner s and workers, a service, “even an exercise of love which confers upon the businessman the digni ty of a social benefactor and the intimate satisfaction of having dedicated his prodigious energy to something that is worthwhile and which will endure; humani- . » # ty. Paul VI has thus placed him self squarely behind that concep tion of economic life developed in the encyclicals of Leo XIII, Pius XI, and John XXIII. It is a high concept, one which under scores the element of human re sponsibility in economic life. DAVENPORT MESSENGER STUDENTS ALIENATED Your World And Mine BY GARY MACEOIN us are apathetic about the RE4P1NGS AT RANDOM