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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?