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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1964)
% % 1 HELP YOUR UNITED APPEAL of Atlanta SERVING GEORGIA’S NORTHERN COUNTIES VOL. 2, NO. 45 ATLANTA, GEORGIA THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1964 $5.00 PER YEAR SAYS AGENCIES Must Coordinate War On Poverty STATUE of St. Thomas More, created by the Eng lish Benedictine writer and sculptor, Dom Hubert Van Zeller, was presented to the Thomas More Association of Chicago, by an anonymous donor on the 25th anniver sary of the founding of the association. WASHINGTON (NC)—An ad ministration official called here for a "coordinated attack" on poverty enlisting the coopera tive efforts of Federal, state, local and private agencies. ,# We must weave together in dividual, governmental and pri vate programs into a common attack on the problems of pov erty," said Philip H, Des Mar- ais, deputy assistant secretary for legislation in the Depart ment of Health, Education and Welfare. ‘THE individual programs of government—Federal, state and local—and of private or ganizations, lose much of their effectiveness precisely because they are individual programs, separately conceived and sep arately administered," he add ed. Des Marais spoke (Nov. 13) at a general session on the subject "Do God's Charity" during the 32nd national con vention of the National Council of Catholic Women. Some 5,000 persons attended the conven tion, whose theme was "Vati can Council II and You." The new official called pov erty a "paradox" in a time of widespread national affluence and noted that poverty as it exists in the U.S, today is "hid den" from many Americans. "For the average American family, with an income slightly over $6,000, poverty is some thing that happens to somebody else—never seen, never felt," he said. But the fact is, he added, that one-fifth of all U.S. families to day, including 11 million child ren, get along on incomes of less than $3,000 per year. And the average income for 9 million families in the poverty group is $1,750 yearly—less than $35 DES Marais cited in particu lar the Aid to Dependent Child ren program, and said it now numbers 4,178,000 mothers with young children. They re ceive public welfare payments averaging $32 a month per child or $135 a month per family. "I ask the hundreds of moth ers here present in this ball room today," he said, "how much food, clothing and shelter could you buy for your family with $135 cash income a month?” Outlining the war on poverty program launched by the Eco nomic Opportunity Act of 1964, he noted that it includes a job corps to tram young people at residential centers for pro ductive work; a non-residential work-training program to help youths stay in school; and a work-study program to assist needy college students. IN addition, he said, the Ec onomic Opportunity Act autho rizes urban and rural com munity action programs. An "integral part" of these, he de clared, will be providing "ser vices for children in low income families, such as pre-school training, day care programs, special health services, reme dial reading and other non curricula education programs, to provide the extra help that these young people in poor neighborhoods need if they are to keep up with regular school programs." DRAMATIC SUCCESS Missions Basis Of Bishop Sheen’s Speech To Council BY FR. PLACID JORDAN, OSB (N.C.W.C. News Service) VATICAN CITY—You could have heard a pin drop in St. Peter’s when Bishop Fulton Sheen rose to address the ecu menical council on the sub ject of the missions. For days, the bishops of the world had been awaiting the views of the American whose work for the missions has made his name almost universally known. "FATHER Thomas O’Reilly Day" proclaimed for this Sunday will honor the memory of the hero - priest (shown here after a painting by Armin Maier) who saved five chur ches and the City Hail and courthouse from being burned by Gen. Sherman’s forces dur ing the Battle of Atlanta 100 years ago. (See story, page 6) SO when the Auxiliary Bish op of New York who heads the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the U.S. arose to speak (Nov. 9), the other Fath ers gave rapt attention. The man who has been a popular radio-TV speaker in his own country made an impassioned plea that the concept of mis sionary activity be enlarged to embrace not only terri tories under the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, but also the poor through out the world, especially in Latin America. Bishop Sheen used the micro phone in the council section where he had his seat. His voice was perfectly modulated, rising and falling in accordance with the exigencies of his text. He followed his custom of accom panying his statements with dramatic gestures. He spoke slowly, using elegant Latin which was perfectly under standable even to those who sometimes experience diffi culty following American speakers when they use the council’s official language. THE council Fathers had de layed their usual coffee breaks so as not to miss this famous speaker. When he concluded, the members of his audience —one of a kind he had never before faced—expressed their appreciation by spontaneous applause. Bishop Sheen was the last speaker scheduled to talk about the missions. Immediately af ter his address, it was decided by an overwhelmiig vote to send the curtailed missions schema back to committee for a com plete rewriting in the light of the critical observations that had been made on the council floor. THE keynote of Bishop Sheen’s talk was when he ex pressed full approval of Pope Paul’s plea the previous week that the mission schema be polished and developed. As the bishops filed out of the meeting at noon, Bishop Sheen's talk was the main topic of their conversation. Said one promi nent mission bishop: "This was one of the council’s greatest days, thanks to Fulton Sheen." Editor Dies RICHMOND, Va. (NC)~John J. Daly, Sr., editor of the Catho lic Virginian of Richmond and a former president of the Catho lic Press Association, died sud denly (NoV. 5) at his home here. He was 59. A journalist for nearly 40 year$ Mr. Daly was editor of the Richmond diocesan news paper since it became a weekly in 1946. ON MISSIONS Catholics from every corner of northern Georgia seemed headed toward Atlanta during the Conference on Worship. 1 met groups and old friends from LaGrange, Fort Oglethorpe, Milledgeville, Griffin and a dozen other places. It argues well for the future use of our proposed Catholic Center. We vizualize it as a meeting-place for all, right in the center of our central city, easily accessible. Work-rooms for our lay organizations, a library and information center, a fine setting for lectures and special programs will be available. So y’all come. It’ll be ready just as soon as we have harnes sed the planhers, the ideas, the builders and the money into one team. SOME FINE WRITING Two of our young priests merited their masters' degrees in Education this summer. The subjects they tackled as their chief projects were most interesting: Fr. Daniel O’Connor, as sistant secretary for education and principal of St. Joseph’s, wrote on special phases of the progress of education in Georgia. Fr. William Calhoun, faculty member at St. Joseph’s, linked for comparison St. Thomas Aquinas’ principles of teaching, and the contemporary "core curriculum." Wish works of this kind could be published. which is always more eloqu ent in ecclesiastical Rome than spoken words, this was intrep- reted as an indication of his acceptance of the doctrine of the "collegiality" of the epis copacy, which will probably be proclaimed at the end of the present session of the Council, THE schema on the missions, which the Council was about to consider for the first time, re ceived Pope Paul's endorse ment even before the Fath ers began discussing it. The Pope said he was generally sat isfied with it, though he real ized it needed touching up in spots, and he hoped that they would approve it. Then, before the regular discussions began, but after a favorable introduc tion of the schema by Peter Gre gory Cardinal Agagianian, pre fect of the Sacred Congrega tion for th e Propagation of die Faith, the Curial body respon sible for Missions, His Holiness blessed the assembled Fathers and left the basilica. A number of bishops were un happy that the Holy Father saw fit to express any opinion of the schema,' especially a favorable one, for they felt that the Pope's advancing his view of it might put the draft beyond the range of criticism, and they had been waiting for weeks to tear Unto it as woefully inadequate and unacce ptable. But it did not happen. The bishops spoke out. WHAT did they think was wrong with the schema? For one thing, it was, they felt, altogether too brief. Ori ginally, it had been a full-scale schema, then last spring at the demand of the Council's Coordinating Committee, ithad been cut back to a series of 13 short propositions. The missionary bishops and the sup eriors of mission sending socie ties of priests and missionary orders frankly resented this downgrading. They were prepared to say so in the aula. In addition, the propositions themselves were written in a flat humdrum sytle. Instead of promising to fire the Church with a vast new zeal for the cause, which the miss- CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Archbishop’s Notebook ARRIVEDERCI, ROMA1 CARDINAL ASSERTS Speech On Birth ‘Misunderstood’ HAPPY SIGHT—Imagine the joy of Mrs. Gaetano Rotolo (left) as her five sons, recently restored to sight by cataract operations, are special guests of Pope Paul (Nov. 6) at the Vatican. From left, they are Paulo, 15; Carmelo, 13; Calogero, 4, playing with Rosary; Gioacchino, 11, and Guiseppe, 9. BY JOHN COGLEY VATICAN CITY (RNS)— The day the Vatican Council took up the question of missions, Nov. 6, Pope Paul made an unpre cedented appearance in the Council hall. He chose that par ticular day, the Holy Father said, to underscore his concern for the missionary work of the Church and provide fresh ways to stimulate more zeal and gen erosity for the missions, among both clergy and laity. The Pope, incidentally, sat at a table with the presidents of the Council as he spoke, rather than on the pontifical throne. In the sign-language But it might be worded more accurately. "In Absentia, Roma". This fall, unlike 1962 and 1963, I will n ot be on hand for the third session. There are other names missing, some of our own vene rable churchmen like Archbishops Hoban and Gannon, like Car dinals McIntyre and Cushing, others on the painful list of exiles like Mindszenty and Beran and the Chinese. My absence is much more casual: my checkups are running into the last weeks of the session. It would be foolish to hurry them.And there's always 1965. Yet, it would be false to say that I do not miss Rome and the resounding debates. Earlier this fall I reminded you that 1962 was a Session of uncertainty, as all of us groped for proced ures, for the sense of this great body. Then, 1963 was a Session of hope and promise, ending in disappointment. This has been the Decisive Session. The fourth will probably be one of Resolu tion. I miss my fellow-bishops, especially our Americans who are taking their place in this historic movement of the "Open Church." But you came to know others well; the stalwart Splbeck from behind the iron curtain; the hearty Conway, arch bishop of Armagh; the genial, ever-helpful Grimshaw of Birm ingham, and gentle Lercaro and dynamic Suenens. There are many Doctors and Confessors under the great dome and some martyrs, too. Rome itself is fascinating this time of year-except when it rains. The Tiber slides along. The hills and fountains are more than musical pieces, the chatter of the open ristorantes is ever lasting. Rome in 1964 is not Rome of the Middle Ages or the Renais sance. There are marked differences. But then, the Rome which is the heart of so much Christianity is serving a new world today. ALL ROADS LEAD. . . VATICAN CITY (NC)—A car dinal interrupted ecumenical council discussion in an effort to clarify a speech Jie had made on marriage problems and to deny that he had questioned au thentic Church teaching in this field. Leo Cardinal Suenens of Ma- lines-Brussels said that a "misunderstanding in public opinion" had led many to in terpret his council talk of Oct. 29 as an affirmation that Church teaching on birth control would be changed. A report on that talk by the council press office described the Belgian cardinal as assert ing that there is reason to be lieve that the Church’s tra ditional outlook on marriage problems has been too one sided. THE council press bulletin paraphrased him as saying: "Our insistence on the com mand ‘to increase and multiply’ may have caused us to forget that this is not the only text in Sacred Scripture and that another passage, stating that a husband and wife ‘become two in one flesh,’ is also contained in Revelation and thus is equally divine in origin. "We still have much to learn. No one can ever presume to exhaust the inexhaustible riches of Christ. We may well wonder if our theology texts have gone into every last detail and ex hausted every possibility." CARDINAL Suenens returned to this subject in an aside to a talk on mission problems. He declared: "May I be permitted on this occasion to reply briefly to cer tain reactions of public opinion which interpreted my speech on the ethics of marriage as if I affirmed that the Church's doc trine and discipline had been changed. "As regards doctrine, as was clearly stated, there was ques tion only of a study to be made in this connection, not to re- elaborate what has already been authentically and definitively proclaimed by the Church’s teaching authority, but rather in view of formulating a syn thesis of all principles govern ing this subject. Schema Draft Overhauling Seen Needed ARCHBISHOP OF ATLANTA ETHIOPIAN KITE priests enter St. Peter’s (Nov. 6) to offer Mass when Pope Paul VI (left) attended the Council discussion on the Missions.
