Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1964 the Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA .BULLETIN SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHFVM 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 2699 Peachtree N. E. P. O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta 5, Ga. 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. U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foriegn $6.50 Don’t Be Afraid Of The Changes There is no heed for any Catho lic to be apprehensive about the changes in our liturgical wor ship. Nor, is there any valid reason for any of us to be fear ful of them or of the effects on the Church which they will unquestionably have. Unfortuna tely, it does seem to us that some Catholics are apprehensive or fearful. If we are correct, then these Catholics need to be reassured. Despite the fact that within our own experience we are not ac customed to change in our public worship, it remains true that such change is quite normal. It has always gone on and it will undoubtedly continue to go on in the future. Growth and deve lopment - which are, after all, other names for change - are normal for all living beings. The Church is a living organism and the public worship of the liturgy is the principal expression of her life. As the Liturgy Constitution of Vatican Council II says, “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fount which from all her power flows.” It is, therefore, normal that from time to time major changes in the liturgy should take place. This has certainly been the case historically. In the earliest years of Christianity, the Euch arist was celebrated in a very simple manner, reminiscent of the Last Supper of Our Lord and his Apostles. With the emergence of the Church following the Roman persecutions, the es sential actions of worship were surrounded with solemn cere mony to express their sacred mystery. As time went on, the language of the liturgy was chan ged also. When the people of Rome ceased to use Greek as their everyday language, they be gan to celebrate their common worship in the tongue they spoke, Latin. Later, the Middle Ages introduced into the liturgy many customs based on feudal society. Following the Protestant Refor mation, the Church rather. . defensively insisted upon unifor mity and centralized authority in liturgical matters. In our own time, we have seen changes which have gradually led up to the present reform and re newal. Pope St. Pius X, over a generation ago, re-introduced the custom of frequent reception of Holy Communion. He also lower ed the age for the reception of First Communion by children. Pius XII shortened the hours of fasting and allowed evening Mas ses in order to encourage more frequent reception of the Sacra ment of the Holy Eucharist. In a very dramatic move which foreshadowed today's changes, he restored the solemn liturgy of Holy Week to hours more conven ient for the faithful and simpli fied the ceremonies to express more clearly their sacred beauty. His encyclical on The Sacred Liturgy is a fore-runner of Vati can Il’s Constitution. In all these changes and those yet to come there are two sides to be considered. Certainly, there is no question of changing the doctrines of Catholic Faith. These remain inviolably conserved un der the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Yet, the history of the Church indicates clearly that there can be a development even here. Certain eras seem called on providentially to deepen the grasp of the Church on a parti cular aspect of the faith deliv ered by Christ to the Apostles. Our own time is called on to grasp more perfectly the mean ing of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments; the real nature of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ; the true meaning of God's inspired Word in the Scriptures the broad dimensions of apostolic work. This kind of inward growth and development is the life-blood of the liturgical renewal. From it will come the particular changes in the way we worship. The Constitution on Liturgy says: “The liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely in stituted, and of elements subject to change. These. . . ought to be changed with the passage of time.*' This is an application of one of the general aims of the Vatican Council, “to adaptmore suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change,'' Most attention is being focused on the changes in these elements of human institution. This is entirely understandable and is even a good thing, so long as we make the effort to relate these changes to the basic reasons for them. It can hardly be denied that many of “the changeable ele ments of the liturgy’ badly need to be adapted “to the needs of our own times,” The need which cries loudest is for personal in volvement in the sacred action of the liturgy on the part of all the Christian people. For too long Sunday morning congregations in our churches have been a crowd of separate and separated indiv iduals. The abstraction of our common membership in one Body of Christ has remained precisely that - an abstraction that did not affect our consciousness or our habits of living. Masses whis pered toward a wall in a language almost none of us can speak or understand did little or nothing to improve the situation. The first official change, which is now very near, is the intro duction of the vernacular into the Mass. This has already been accomplished for the Sacraments and sacramentals. This inno vation will do much to establish that immediacy between the ac tion of Christ our Priest in the liturgy and ourselves. The other changes which we are now see ing - Mass facing the congrega tion, participation through dialo gue and singing, use of readers and commentators- are all aimed at making our Sunday Mass truly a celebration, truly an exper ience of Christ at work in his members glorifying the Father and strengthening us in love. The future will bring deeper un derstanding and more effective means for growing in our Christ ian vocation. Christian Royalty GEORGIA PINES Jesse Jewell Day BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN The only exception I know to the Scriptural proverb, "A prophet is not without honor. . ." is a man from Gainesville, Georgia, whose name has become synonymous with the chicken indus try and who, only last week, became the first man to have his name enrolled in the poultry industry’s Hall of Fame. Last Thursday, in Gainesville, it was Jesse Jewell Day. The day itself might not have had any bearing outside Hall County were it not for the fact that Mr. Jewell influenced the world poultry industry to such a degree that it brought prosperity to North Georgia. BORN IN humble circumstances, the native Georgian appreciated the plight of the farmer and he devised a credit system which enabled impovished farmers to realize a gain from their investments. This system made the area first in the industry and today Gain esville’s proud boast displayed on their number plates is: The Broiler Capitol of the World. An inspiration to the youth of the community, Jesse Jewell became a modem day Horatio Alger. But his influence was not isolated to the poultry industry. Any successful project in the community was insured success by his participation. Boy Scouts, Com munity Chest, church drives etc. all benefited from his wisdom, initiativeand foresight. ALTHOUGH success had given him a special status in the community it was not uncommon to see him dining with his "young executives" in a local restaurant and sharing his experience with their youthful ideas. As Gainesville editor, Sylvan Meyer put it," He has never been jea lous of the vision of others, having an ample supply himself, and thus has been able to re cognize the worth of imagination from any source, add his organizational drive to it and bring it to success". The local Country Club, the championship gllf course, the outstanding Elks Lodge and the Ameri can Legion post all bear thecharacteristic stamp of Jesse Jewell’s influence. But while these things add to the recreational activity of the area, his real influence was felt in the local college. Bre- nau College today has many scholarships set up by his company and his assistance to the girl's school was more than generous. NOT A controversial figure, by any means, his political and religious beliefs were never used to pressure others to one side or the other. They remained strictly personal. His organiza tion is dotted with executives of various relig ious persuasions and political leanings. It is truly an amalgamation which is reflected in a loyal spirit to the J. D. Jewell Company. On a trip out west last year Mr. Jewell was felled with a stroke. His indominatable spirit fought back and today he is "back in his feet". The tribute to Jesse Jewell was truly an appre ciation day brought about spontaniously by the honor and respect which Gainesvillians have for their leading citizen. AT THE close of the banquet, responding to a toast given by the Chairman of the Board (and Marist graduate), Carl Chandler, Mr. Jewell in characteristic humility acknowledged his plau dits by saying, "I was just hungry and needed to earn a living". His constant plug of North Georgia as being a garden spot of the world is never so evident as it is at this time of the year. The beautiful array of colors on the treesmakes the scenery indescribable and is a must for tourists. North Georgia is never so pretty as it is during Oct ober. Truly it is the garden spot of the world. U.S. VIETNAM FUTURE Your World And Mine BY GARY MacEOIN Asia What is going to happen in Vietnam? It is a question I am constantly ask ed sinct my recent reports on our deteriorat ing position in that country, reports which sub sequent events have unhappily confirmed. My first answer is that nothing significant will happen until after the American elections. And that is one of our weak nesses not only in Vietnam but in our worldwide confrontation of Communism. One year in four, our domestic politics take precedence over our foreign policies. What is done or omit ted is evaluated in relation to its likely impact on the up coming presidential contest. MOST AMERICANS shrug their shoulders, say this is inevitable. I am not convinced. Other democratic countries are far more successful in presenting a truly united front on foreign policy. And I am satisfied from my observations and discussions in Vietnam that our inability to do the same has been a signi ficant factor in the current deterioration. The Communists cleverly exploit the theme that American military decisions are dictated by con cern for the effect on American public opin ion. They are fighting their election with your property and lives, they tell the South Vietna mese. And after the elections, what? The continuing governmental convulsions in Saigon, the outcome decided each time by the favor of the U. S. State Department, show that no statesman has emerg ed to capture the imagination and win the support of the people. They have not become convinced Communists, nor do they prefer the regimented life of the North. But they are weary of war. In addition, they no longer believe that the victory of this or any American-supported regime would improve their material condition to the extent to which the Communists are improving that of their fellow-Vietnamese. ALL OF which points to the inevitability of an American military withdrawal from an area in which arms and money, without adequate poli tical objectives, have failed to achieve our aims. It does not necessarily follow, however, that we must simply hand Vietnam over to China. I be lieve there remains the possibility of building up a viable buffer area consisting of Burma, Thai land and the successor states to former Indo- China (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia). It would form an eastward projection to the South China Sea of the Indian frontier with China. To India it would be most welcome as a protection aga inst outflanking of its defences. The people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia realize that they live within the economic and cultural sphere of influence of China. But they CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 LITURGICAL CHANGE A Feeling Of Urgency BY GERARD E. SHERRY There suddenly seems a sense of urgency in getting the people ready to understand and cope with liturgical change. All over the country liturgical meets are being held with the express purpose of helping both the priests and the people to an orderly transition from Latin to the ver nacular in parts of the Mass. In my own archdiocese, a Conference on Wor ship takes place this week with national speak ers in attendance. Last week I was able to be in Rockford, Illinois, for the "Laity Day" in their preparations for Liturgical Reform. It was was quite an experience to see so many lay people facing what many of them consider a challenge. Surprising, too, were the number of older people who considered it necessary to keep up with the times. FROM MY travels around, it has be come increasingly clear that liturgical change will not come easy for many peo ple. Many don’t un derstand it and are fearful that breaking with the past will make the Church less Catholic. They hardly accept the fact that "Reformation" is now a respectable word in the Catholic dictionary. But I am reminded of Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan’s admonition at the National Liturgical Week held in St. Louis at the end of August that all members of the Church must join in the Restoration of the Liturgy if the cur rent "Aggiomamento" is to succeed. The Arch bishop added "If the Liturgy is to be restored; if man is to be sanctified and God praised; if we are to become truly ’one in holiness,’ then it must be done by the whole Church, not only by the Bishops, Priests and leaders among the faithful." Archbishop Hallinan, the only American mem ber of the original Vatican Council Liturgy Commission, is also a member of the current Vatican post-Conciliar Commission along with Joseph Cardinal Ritter, Archbishop of St. Louis. His experience is this field is of special value to those who keep asking why the need for change. The Archbishop warns that the liturgy restora tion "Will either be accomplished by the gra dual jjoirilng of all God’s people, the eager and the apathetic, the anxious and the confident, the favorable and the hostile, or it will not be done rightly at all." Significantly, he has a spe cial word for the religious, Priests, Brothers and Sisters when he tells them to see their parish churches rather than their chapels as the focal point of their prayer life. He says; "A special responsibility for Sisters and Broth ers is to realize that after the diocese, the parish is the true liturgical entity. The ‘sense of com munity’ which is so vital is nourished primarily not in the faculty house, nor the school, nor the convent chapel, but in the parish church. There need be no revolution here, nor a break ing up of traditional images or chapel altars. All that is needed is a due sense of propor tion. The liturgy in the parish church is more than just in a central location. It is the ordinary source of the Church’s power. It is the ordinary cli max of the Church's efforts." REAPINGS AT RANDOM AND ARCHBISHOP Hallinan is fully in sym pathy with those who find it difficult to make the change, and he calls for others to understand it, and says: "We also need tact and courtesy and kindness and persuasion,, and all these are the ways of charity... Those who love the liturgy must be a real elite, and its foremost mark should be deep humility." At the Rockford meet I was amused at some of the questions asked by the laity of the priests involved in the Conference. One fellow brought up the old saw about the Universal Church. He said that it was difficult to understand how one could not any longer hear Mass in various parts of the world and feel that it was the same Mass. After all, he said, with the Latin it was the same Mass in Indonesia as it was in Freeport, Illinois. Now with the vernacular, he Mass will ^ difficult t0 follow in countries outside America. The speaker quite rightly asked him whether he was fluent in La-in. The answer was in the negative. This is where instruction is so necessary in just what the changes mean. It is to be hoped that there will be no last minute rushes on this. After all, the preparation is now, not November 29th when the selected portions of the vernacular in the Mass are officially in stituted. THERE IS one final thought; the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy approved by the Council Fathers and promulgated by Pope Paul VI has the full force of law for the whole Church. Fur thermore, inasmuch as the American bishops gave their overwhelming approval to it in April of this year, it is binding on us all; we all must take the lead from our bishops and priests in giving full participation to the reform and re newal of worship.