Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1964
lfie Archdiocese of Atlanta
GEORGIA BULLETIN
SEtVINO GEORGIA'S 71 NOUTHMw COUNTIES
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
2699 Peachtree N. E.
P. O. Box 11667
Northside Station
Atlanta 5, Ga.
Member of the Catholic Press Association
and Subscriber to N. C. W7C. News Service
Telephone 231-1281
Second Class Permit at Altanta, Ga.
U. S. A. $5.00
Canada $5.00
Foriegn $6.50
Jaw Or War?
In an election year the question
of who is most effective in deal
ing with the Communist menace
comes up at almost every po
litical rally. Almost every can
didate wants to prove his prowess
as an anti-communist. Some go
so far as to equate patriotism with
the wish to see every Red dead.
They brook no negotiation nor
rapproachment with the Com
munist or their satelites. Yet,
the realities of these times fore
close a mood of arrogance and
intransience. •
We are reminded of all this
with the announcement Tuesday
that the Holy See has come to
an agreement with the Hungarian
Communist regime to regularize
its dealings in relation to the ad
ministration of the Church and the
appointments of Bishops. Nat
urally, the first concern of the
Vatican is that the Church be
permitted to operate within the
Communist orbit and to continue
its apostolate to all nations.
The Holy See did not feel it
was necessary to explain itself
for negotiating with the Com
munists in the interest of the
Church. Nobody can say that Pope
Paul’s approval of the agreement
is a concession to Communism or
an unCatholic or unchristian act.
Like his predecessor, Pope John
XXIII, our present Holy Father
does not rule out contact with
Communist regimes--especially
when it deals with the easing of
oppressive measures against
Catholics behind the Iron and
Bamboo curtains.
Yet, some politicians today
accuse our present and past lead
ers of weakness in accepting the
principle of negotiation. States
men and government officials
have been pilloried because they
advocate jaw instead of war--
especially with Communist lead
ers.
W e hope that the sensible ex
ample of the Vatican in its re
lations with the Hungarian Com
munist regime ( and its re
lations with the Soviet Union
when the release of Arch
bishop Slypi was negotiated) will
lead the more beligerent po
liticians to a sense of reality.
If principles are always adhered
to, nothing is ever lost by ne
gotiation. Tuesday*s announce
ment of agreement between the
Vatican and Communist Hungary
reveals much can be gained.
This is a positive reflection which
could be well emulated in the
heat of the Election Campaign,
Appeal For Peace
Perhaps it is the almost habi-
tualrecurrence of crises in Cuba,
Vietnam, the Congo, Cyprus, that
has hardened many to the terri
ble seeds of war that lie in
any one of them. Pope Paul
has delivered an impassioned
appeal for awareness of the dan
ger of global war.
The Holy Father has indicated
that the root of our danger is to
be found in a spirit of interna
tional selfishness and a loss of
respect for the dignity of human
life.
The foundations of genuine
AN ALTAR BOV
NAMED "SPECK"
‘*Do« it have pop^icles?”
peace, he tells us, are not to
be found in a balance of mutual
terror, rampant nationalism, an
armaments race, and social and
economic conflict inflamed by
ideology. The Pope voiced his
concern for the weakening of
the U. N. as an agency of in
ternational reconciliation.
Pope Paul has placed mutual
understanding, loyal mutual
trust, and collaboration for mu
tual aid and help for underde
veloped nations as the keys to
peace. Peace, said the Pope,
rests upon love.
The Pope told his listeners
that his words were “serious
thoughts which occupy our mind
in deep meditation’* on the oc
casion of the anniversaries of
the two world wars.
No doubt many will receive
this latest papal statement with
polite but real skepticism; To
say that peace rests upon love
may make nice meditation mate
rial, but it just isn’t practical.
And yet it is love which ought
to be the product of the mutual
respect and regard for the natu
ral law which lie at the root
of Pope John’s appeal for peace
in Pacem in Terris. Love should
be the ultimate civic virtue.
There are millions of men and
women in the prime of life today
who have personal experience of
the horrors of war and the after-
math of war. To them and to
the rest of us the Pope has is
sued an invitation to make known
our determination to maintain
and make firm the fragile peace
we now enjoy.
CATHOLIC MESSENGER
AND TH£Y SHALL TVQAJ
TH£/P Sfrt/OPDS/PTO
Pi OVGPS>WP£S, AND
wmspfApg
IS A. IAS 2;4
GEORGIA PINES
Paid Catechists?
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Every fall pastors ere preoccupied with the
problem of conducting Christian Doctrine class
es for those parishioners who are not enrolled
in the parochial schools. An interesting program,
competent teachers, cooperation from parents
and attendance of the pupils are the contribut
ing factors which make this situation become
a problem. Every year suggestions are made,
changes, are effectuated but the final resolve,
it becomes listed as a major parish problem.
This problem grows year after year and will
continue to grow as our parishes become lar
ger and it becomes increasingly difficult for par
ents to enroll their children in the parochial
school. No w the idea of a
person being paid to teach
catechism, at first, seems rath
er revolting. However, there
are many aspects to this plan
which I think at least merit
our consideration.
attention.
Children still detest “Sunday School” and a
majority of parents whose children participate
in the program still treat the classes without
serious thought. It fs no secret that the pro
gram is not working as successful as it could.
It is indeed a strange commentary on the
American Way of Life that we really appre
ciate only those things for which we pay.
Parents, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, pay
for piano lessons, dancing lessons, speech
lessons etc., but where religious instructions
are concerned, like government programs, they
just naturally feel that it should be “subsidi
zed.”
What if a catechism teacher were paid? Af
ter all, our lay teachers in the parochial school
system are paid. In mission lands paid cate
chists belong to a recognized profession. I
often think that were the Ch-istian Doctrine
program to require a sacrifice on the pare of
parents, it might be more successful.
ents to enroll
If there is one thing which
the controversial book written
by Mary Perkins Ryan has done
it has made us take a more
mature look into just what our schools are
accomplishing. “How long are we going to
survive?” is a valid question.
I recall some years ago when the late Domin
ican educator, Robert Slavin O. P., visited
Georgia that he said one day we might have to
make a choice between our elementary
and high schools. “It might be impossible some
day to staff and support both”, Father Slavin
said.
For years the Confraternity of Christian Doc
trine has been in operation. Unlike the pio
neers of the Liturgical movement, the “day
of-, arrival” has not yet come for those mili
tant catechists who would like to see the Sun
day Catechetical movement taken up with more
1 would like to see the whole program coor
dinated out of the school superintendent's
office. If this were so, a family could move from
parish to parish, or city to city (yes, diocese
to diocese) and still retain some semblence
of continuity in their religious instruction life.
There are some parishes where the catech
ism program works like a clock. But, I dare
say that it is completely independent from any
other parish’s program. By and far the pro
gram depends upon volunteers and the good
will of parents.
One time if a parent did not send his or her
child to a paroe 3 iial school they were looked
upon as a “half-baked” Catholic. Today, this
is not true. The best parishioner might be un
able to place a child in our crowded school
system. Christian Doctrine classes are obvi
ously the answer. But, we are still in the “dark
ages” as regard to program, coordination and
supervision.
LEBANON
Your World And Mine
BY GARY MacEOlN
What first strikes the visitor to Lebanon is the
extraordinary number of banks. In this respect it
is the Switzerland of the Near East, the deposi
tary of the wealth of the neighboring countries.
The choice of Lebanon by its neighbors as a
safe place to stash away their valuables is inte
resting because of its doubly unique position
the countries of the Near East. It is the
only Arab state with a Chris
tian majority. And it is the only
state in which the government
is not theocratic or at least de
facto committed to the principle
that the full rights and benefits
of citizenship belong only to the
adherents of the state religion.
We in the West find such at
titudes hard to understand.
. Apart from some archaic sur
vivals in several Latin American countries, and in
Portugal, Spain and Greece, Christianity has evol
ved a philosophy which distinguishes and separates
the rights and powers of Church and state. The
Church is consequently able to function coopera
tively in the multi-religious society characteristic
of our age, Islam's philosophy is more primitive,
not far removed from that of the Church of the In
quisition. Judaism has a higher level of sophistica
tion but in Israel it suffers from a series of com
plexes which causes it to mistrust everything iden
tified emotionally as an enemy.
For both Moslems and Jews, accordingly, Leba
non performs a valuable function simply by demon
strating the civic and social a attributes of the
biggest group. Incidentally, more than two-thirds
of the Christians are Catholics, mainly of the Mar-
onite rite, and most of the other Christians are Or
thodox.
LEBANON IS a tiny country, less than 4000
square miles in extent, just north of Israel. Its
populaton is about two million, including 140,000
refugees from Palestine, its natural resources
are mainly agricultural, but its economy is con
siderably helped by the commerce for which its
people have a traditional aptitude.The Phoenicians
traded from Tyre and Sidon and there invented
the first phonetic alphabet thousands of years be
fore the time of Christ, and these cities were still
famous marts of commerce when Jesus visited the
area.
Commerce calls for education, and today Leban
on is the most literate country in the Near East,
with 80 to 90 per cent of the people able to read
and write. Mass education was first developed in
Christian schools and Christian communities, and
even today the level of education tends to be higher
among Christians than among Moslems. But the
young Moslems have become conscious of the value
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
MOMENTOUS
The Council
Resumes
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Monday, some 2500 bishops from throughout
the world took the nine o’clock walk up the steps
of St. Peter's Basilica to open the third session
of Vatican Council II. For the next two months,
the prelates will take the same walk, at the same
time, up the same steps, five days a week,
until they have completed the agenda which has
been set for them . -
At this time there
is no way of knowing RFAPUVrS
whether a fourth ses- IiEiAr llalxo
sion will be needed. ;
One thing is certain, AT
however; the bishops
are going to be busy. RANDOM
Last year I re
member someone >
complaining that the Daily Council sessions lasted
only three hours and that it was no wonder
so little had been accomplished. Not so well known
is the fact that many of the Council Fathers also
are attached to working commissions as members
or advisors. While they may spend only three
hours at each session, they spend many more
hours on Council business that goes unreported.
Somewhere in between they try to sandwich pres
sing diocesan business which may be sent for
their attention.
My sojourn in Rome for the last session open
ed my eyes to the grueling pace that was being
set by some of the bishops and their staffs of
priest “experts”. Most of the American bishops
were up around 6:30 a.m. each day and didn’t
get to bed til all hours. In between, there was
much hard work, with only the week-ends for
relaxation. Alas, for some on the main com
missions, even the week-ends afforded little
leisure. And it took its toll.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
Even among the newsmen, there were compla
ints at the rough pace. To report the Council
diligently required being almost everywhere at
anytime. Every day there was the special morning
briefing immediately after the Council session;
then usually a business and working lunch, and
then to the U. S. O. Building for the main after
noon press panel. It was at this briefing that the
English speaking newsmen got the most infor
mation and background material.
The grueling pace killed the star of the press
panel, Jesuit Father Gustave Weigel. A tremen
dously learned but humble man, Father Weigel's
dry wit often eased the tensions when it ap
peared that the news or interpretation of the
Council session was dull and routine. Father
Weigel’s main job was with the Protestant Ob
servers. And they can attest to the many hours,
each day, that he made himself available in their
service. He also was an advisor to bishops,
and commissions of the Council. Father Wei
gel’s confreres noticed soon after he returned
to Woodstock college, that he looked exhausted.
His death from a heart attack in the Spring
was attributed to overwork. He probably would
have preferred it that way, although his loss will
be felt at this current session, not only by the
Council Fathers but also by his friends of the
press.
Milton Bracker of the New York Times also
died of a heart attack soon after the Council
session ended. His reporting of the daily deli
berations was considered among the best. He
was a newsman in the finest tradition, avoid
ing the temptation to the sensational. Bishops
were able to trust him with background material
and always there was mutual respect. There
were other casualties, too, so there’ll be a
lot of new faces at the English- speaking-press
briefings this time.
Of course, there is a bright side to the press
coverage. There’s more of it; and I’m told that
newsmen may be allowed into some of the daily
sessions in the Basilica. I’m not sure how much
benefit there is in this possible concession for
few of the accredited correspondents have a
working knowledge of Latin, the language of the
Council. Furthermore, I'm sure some of the
debate among the Fathers will be so routine as
to be as boring as co%ering the local Board of
Aldermen meeting.
The major problem of Council coverage is that
which is faced by the editor of the diocesan
w eekly at home. The constant question is how much
space to allot to the deliberations of the Coun
cil Fathers?
Last year some of my own readers compla
ined bitterly that we had cut down local cover
age in order to highlight Council happenings.
I know one group which laid the failure of one
of its affairs to the fact that instead of the us
ual three paragraphs, we gave their book fair
only one. There was lots of grumbling about the
Council being so far away and, anyhow, “it’s
not our show, so who cares?”
Isn’t this really the question? Of course, it's
very much “Our show,” the presence of our
bishops makes it so. What takes palce in Rome
these next two months is going to have a tre
mendous impact on our lives. And for those who
still remain skeptical, I would suggest that they
look back to the accomplishments of the last
session. To be sure, only two major topics
were decided, but one of them is of eternal im
portance; litirugical reform will set the pace
for all the other decisions of the Council Fath
ers. It is the all-important first step on the road
to internal renewal, the aggiornamento for which
the Council was originally convened by the saint
ly Pope John XXIII. Pope Paul VI has urged
thst we all pray for the success of this present
session. What better note upon which to start
every day until it is over?