Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4
GEORGIA BULLETIN
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1964
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
SitVINO OtORGIAS 71 NORTHMW COUNTII*
1
4ttfae*
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Official Organ of the Archldocese 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
Anti-Semitism
With the political pot coming
to boil a tremendous amount of
hate literature is beginning to ap
pear all over the place. So-
called patriotic groups are flood
ing the market with anti-Negro
and anti-Semitic material. It
should come as no surprise that
the racists are also anti-Jew.
What does disgust, however, is
that some of these purveyors of
hate in the south openly boast
of being Catholic. In our pre
occupation with justice for the
Negro we tend to forget the rise
in anti-Semitism.
herence to our own beliefs does
not give us license for bad faith
in relation to others. A full
practice of our religion can in
spire only love; it is the repu
diation of it that breeds the hate
of anti-Semitism.
Catholics, as well as other
Christians, have a lot to atone
for in relation to our apathy and
lethargy concerning the Jews.
We have done little to honor
our birthright or our baptism in
this regard.
are prag/rfg
GEORGIA PINES
A Landmark Passes
That a Catholic could promote
anti-Semitism has always been a
cause of shame for us. After all,
Christ was a Jew; so was the
Blessed Virgin; so was St.
Joseph; so were almost all the
first Christians. It is therefore
difficult to understand how any
Christian can be anti-Semitic.
Catholicism is full of Judaism.
To quote the late Father James
Gillis, noted Paulist editor and
preacher, "To put the fact in its
most paradoxical yet truest form,
we are the Jews. We stem not
from Christ alone, but from Ab
raham.”
All the more reason, it appears
to us, for Catholics to feel very
close to the Jewish people. Cer
tainly we must respect them as
individuals and in their faith.
Our acknowledgement of our ad-
We rather wish President John
son would seek a competent run
ning mate without regard to his
religious affiliation. This be
cause we are sick and tired of
the implication that a Catholic Is
necessary on the ticket of either
party. We read by the papers
that Senator Goldwater's vice-
presidential choice was predi
cated on the fact that Congress
man Miller was an easternCath-
AN ALTAR BOY
NAMED "SPECK"
When one reads, in political
leaflets and periodicals directed
or edited by self-styled "prac
tical Catholics", hate and slander
of the Jews, one must always
ask why? What is it, other than
the warped mind, that can hate
so much? The Jews are as loyal
and as conscientious and as civic-
minded as the rest of us. There
are some bad Jews but we fear
thati there are far more bad
Christians.
Let us all work together to
eradicate any form of anti-Semi-p*
tism in our hearts. Hate and
prejudice have no place in poli
tical campaigns, be they local
or national. Catholics, espec
ially, should lead the way and
give their fellow-citizens the *
perfect Christian example--love
of neighbor.
olic, and was expected to draw
some co-religionists who voted
for the late President Kennedy.
This line of reasoning is an
insult both to the memory of the
late president and to the intelli
gence of the average Catholic
voter. We have often urged that
the religion of a political can
didate be the least of the consid
erations when it comes to cast
ing our vote. We again suggest
that the religious issue be left
out o£ this coming presidential
campaign.
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
NEWS ITEM: “Bon Air dies in Augusta,.
Georgia. 0 No doubt this newspaper article
brought sadness of heart to many an Augustan
and nostalgic memories to visitors from all
over the United States.
Located on Walton Way in Augusta, the hotel
had a vantage view of the whole city. A curved,
spacious drive led up to the white stucco build
ing which spread over an acre. Towering
magnolia trees and wide terraces set off the
building in truesouthernstyle. A portico tender
ed by a liveryman lent an air
of southern aristocracy.
LONG BEFORE Florida had
its “Gold Coast’*, the area
•round Augusta became a win
ter haven for northern and mid-
western people of means. The
Florida coast had not yet been
opened by the railroads and
Augusta a offered a respite
from the cold gruesome win
ter months up north.
Horse lovers, golfers and those just seeking
an escape from the snow and ice came to love
Augusta. Then the Bon Air was in its day.
Wide verandas, superb cuisine, congenial com
pany all made for a relaxed atmosphere for
those fortunate enough to become long time or
seasonal residents in the southern mansion.
TRAINS, SUPER highways, improved auto
mobiles and airplanes changed the whole com
plex of traveling America. Florida boomed and
the Carribean Islands offered even more security
from the harshness of northern winters. En
terprising owners and managers of the famed
hotel redecorated the‘spacious meeting rooms
and installed new dining facilities, but to no
avail.
%
For a time, however, it seemed that the Bon
Air had met the demands of the convention trade
and the Influx of visitors to watch the world-
famous Masters Tournament at the Augusta Na
tional often made rooms at a premium. But
these spasmodic events did not yield enough
financially to continue the hotel in elegance.
A HOTEL chain purchased the hotel during the
war years. The nearness of an army camp with
its thousands and thousands of visitors came
as a "shot in the arm” and once more a steady
clientele was insured. The Bon Air, in spite of
help shortages and rationing, continued to give
its guests the same service which had made its
name synonymous with Southern Hospitality
through the years.
The end of the war brought a period of hard
days to the hotel. When Dwight D. Elsenhower
was elected President of .the United States once
again in the hotel began to boom. Whenever the
President came to Augusta, the Bon Air served
as press headquarters for the hundreds of radio
and newspaper men who accompanied the Pre
sident.
FROM TIME to time the celebrites who sat
on the porches and strolled along the lawn
brought fame and notoriety to the hotel. The
presence of such notables brought with them thou
sands of dollars worth of advertising.
Interstate highways skirting the metropolitan
areas and the convenience of motels rang the
death note of many a hotel, including the Bon-Air.
Attempts were made to convert the hotel into a
hostel for the elderly but to no avail. The
hotel represents an age long since passed.
I RECALL going to two conventions of the
Diocesan Council of Catholic Women held at the
Bon Air. The spacious lobby and its large meet
ing rooms made for a city-within-a-city. State
conventions such as this recall to many a Georgian
the elegence of the Bon Air and it is no small
wonder that sadness is felt all over the state at
its closing.
The swimming pool has been drained, the
electric power shut off, the doors locked and
with these things the closing of an era. News
Item: “Bon Air dies in Augusta.”
CHURCH EDUCATIONAL ROLE
Catholic On Ticket?
Your World And Mine
AMf-AW—
“I don’t suppose you’d have
a bobbie pin, Slater?”
The impartial performance of
the late president John F. Ken
nedy, in the Church-State field
was sufficient (we thought) to have
laid the religious issue to rest.
Now, vote-seeking ward -heel -
ers are resurrecting it. We hope
President Johnson will scorn the
"Catholic-on-the-ticket" advo
cates and choose whomever he
considers the best man for the
job. He may decide on a Catholic.
So be it. It would be a mockery
if a Catholic was chosen merely
for vote-getting reasons. The
times are too grave for such
immature thinking.
* f f • I it f 1
We hope that both political
parties have enough men of ded
ication to our democracy that the
religious issue will be buried
deeper than it was in 1960. Pres
ident Kennedy proved our point.
Let us therefore get on with the
job of electing the best men for
the posts at hand, without worry
ing about their church affiliation.
BY GARY MACEOIN
It Is not only here in the United States
that the _ great debate on the future
of education under Catholic auspices is taking
place. In many parts of the world, Catholics are
asking if it is necessary and proper to continue
today to give general education as high a
priority among Catholic institutionalactivities as
has been customary in recent centuries.
The issue was keenly debated, for example,
at a recent national meeting of the association
of Catholic colleges of Colombia. The meeting
agreed that a program to streamline Catholic
educational activities in the
country, with a view to their.,
gradual reduction, should be
prepared for submission to a
later meeting.
The practical reason ad
vanced for this re-evaluation
is substantially the same as
those which underlay the de
cision of the Archdiocese of
Cincinnati to suppress the five
lowest grades in its schools and transfer the
children to the public schools. It is that edu
cation is threatening to absorb too high a pro
portion of the resources available for the
apostolate. Allied to this is the fear, more valid
in Colombia than in the United States, that the
Catholic schools tend to become the preserve of
the children of the well-to-do, thus constituting
a scandal and a stumbling block rather than a
pastoral aid.
Even more noteworthy was theoretical argu
ment put forward in a Bogota Catholic newspaper
on the eve of the meeting and taken up by vari
ous speakers. In a striking departure from the
traditional Catholic position, it was argued that
‘society today is more conscious of its obli
gation to educate all its members, that it is
more adequately equipped-through the facilities
provided by the state to give tnem a human
formation, and that consequently the Church is
free to withdraw progressively from this area of
service and concentrate on its primary mission
of preaching the gospel,
IN MANY of the newly independent states of
Africa the same debate is going on in a very
different context. Education has developed only
very recently, mostly during the present century,
in that part of the world. The first schools for
Africans were built and staffed by missionaries
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
NO NEED
Becker
Amendment
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Congressman Frank J. Becker (Republican,
New York) is very mad at the Legal Deaprtment
of the National Catholic Welfare Conference be
cause it does not back his proposed "Prayer
and Bible Reading Amendment'* now being con
sidered.
Becker, a Catholic has expressed displeasure
that the Legal Department of the organization
which represents the
American Catholic
Bishops has urged
"caution" in relation
to his amendment.
And he has written to
all of the American
Bishops saying so.
Furthermore, he has
asked each Bishop to
answer a question
naire which asks the following:
“Do you support the premise that children
in public schools be permitted to pray on a
voluntary basis?
“Do you oppose such an amendment?'*
There are several things wrong with Congress
man’s Becker’s approach. First of all he should
know that, outside of Faith and Morals, there is
as much diversity of opinion among the U. S.
hierarchy as there is in his own Republican
Party.
Secondly, there are many matters of interest
on which the Bishops have no desire and are not
expected to have a common policy. In their own
self-interest, and in the interest of the Church,
a common policy is often arrived at, but con
formity is not always achieved. This is true on
a variety of subjects, Most recent example of this
can be shown in the current controversey over
California’s Proposition 14, an anti-fair housing
’tiative.
All the Bishops of California, with the excep
tion of Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angles, have
called for the defeat of the initiative at the polls
in November. The Cardinal's political views
are well known, and he is entitled to express
them like any other citizen. On some other mat
ter he could perhaps be found on the side of the
Bishops who disagree with him on this particular
proposition. The National Catholic Welfare Con
ference is by no means a rubber-stamp organi
zation. Each Bishop is free to accept or reject
recommendations of its administrative board—
that is, unless it is in the area of decrees and
policies on which there has been direction and
instruction from the Holy See ‘
Congressman Becker should also be aware
of the fact that the Supreme Court did not rule
on “voluntary prayer”. It simply said that official
prayers were not the field of government and
were in conflict with the Constitution. I find this
quite compatible with Catholic thought and see
in it no dangers to the freedom of religion.
To ask our Bishops whether they favor volun
tary prayer for children in public schools has
an artificial ring about it. Of course, they would
favor voluntary prayer. The issue is not that
simple. It is like asking the Bishops whether they
are against sin. The answer is always obvious.
I doubt whether Mr. Becker’s amendment is in
accord with the minds of the Founding Fathers.
They certainly wanted God to be worshipped
from the heart, and it was partly their concern
for genuine, sincere worship that prompted them
to forbid the establishment of any one religion.
Therefore, we should look for ways and means of
furthering this spirit. As Archbishop Hallinan
suggested last year after the Supreme Court had
ruled on the subject:
"What is most needed now is enough Ameri
can inventiveness to raise our present pro
gram of competent public education to a more
equitable system, rationally and mutually
agreed upon—a system worthy of a nation
"under God" with room for children whose
parents want religious education as well as
for those whose parents do not."
Congressman Becker’s amendment can set a
dangerous precedent for if he can succeed in
amending the Constitution on this particular score,
others might attempt amendments in other
areas without regard to the common good. Consti
tutional changes should not be sought out in an
emotional manner. It is too Important to this
Democracy to have it tampered with at the
whim of any legislator. What is more we are
heading for anarchy If every time the Supreme
Court renders a decision those who disagree
with it try to change the Constiution.
I realize that those who support the Becker
Amendment fear that God has been, or will be
driven from the public schools. Alas, legislat
ing prayer will not necessarily make us anymore
spiritual. Certainly, meaningful prayer cannot be
achieved by regimentation, and we would be fools
if we tried to Impose it upon society. I am remind
ed of the opinion of Supreme Court Justice Bren
nan when the Court ruled June 17th last year. He
said:
"The state must be steadfastly neutral
in all matters of faith and neither favor
nor Inhibit religion. In my view, government
cannot sponsor religious exercises in the
public schools without jeopardizing that neut
rality.
"On the other hand, hostility, not neutra
lity, would characterize the refusal to pro
vide chaplains and places of worship for
prisoners and soldiers cut off by the state
from all civilian opportunities for public
communion, or the witholding of draft exemp
tions for ministers and conscientious ob
jectors, or the denial of temporary use
of an empty public building to a congrega
tion whose place of worship had been des
troyed by a fire or flood. "The finding of
the Court today plainly does not foreclose
teaching about the Holy Scriptures or about
the differences between religious sects in
classes in literature and history. Indeed;
whether or not the Bible is specifically
involved, it would be impossible to teach
meaningfully many subjects in the social
sciences or the humanities without some
mention of religion.’**
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM