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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1964 U.N. CRISIS i ^ 'Archdiocese of Atlanta GEORGIA BULLETIN «f«VINO GtOSGIA'S 7\ NORTHf»w COUNJIES 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 Norths ide Station Atlanta 5, Ga. 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 Unnecessary Spat The spat between F. B. I. Dir ector J. Edgar Hoover and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, is unbecoming of these two great Americans. We are therefore, most happy that they met on Tuesday of this week to sort out their differences. There may well be impatience on both sides over the inability to convict white persons accus ed of murdering and injuring civil rights advocates in some south ern communities. Some law en forcement officials have even suggested that it is futile to ar rest such white persons, even if there is no doubt about their guilt. There are enoughfacts ava ilable to show that the Negro can not get elementary justice in some southern communities where it is hard to find a jury to convict a white person. This is at the root of the Negro im patience with the F. B. I. an agency which has solved many cases far more difficult than that of the murdered civil rights wor kers in Mississippi. Furthermore, the reported text of Mr. Hoover’s press confer ence in which he called Dr. King “a, notorious lier” also contained some startling partisan remarks. Mr. Hoover praised Governor Paul Johnson of Miss issippi as doing “an excellent job", and spoke of the F, B. I.*s inability to “wet-nurse every body who goes down to reform or re-educate the Negro population of the south.** Mr. Hoover must surely know that the three murdered civil rights leaders were not expect ing to be “wet-nursed” by the F. B. I. or anybody else. They did expect normal police protec tion afforded all citizens. They had volunteered to help the Miss issippi Negro attain elementary civil rights guaranteed them un der the Constitution; few Negros in Mississippi have then. Mr. Ho over must know that if Governor Johnson and other Mississippi leaders took the lead, racial justice could come peacefully within a reasonable time. Mr. Hoover’s partisanship was also evident in his reported quotes that: “I have been one of these states’ righter s all my life. Natu rally, I get more and more ir ritated when I see Congress pass ing along to us matters which should be handled at the state level. When you weaken the state authorities, you do a great dis service to law enforcement all over the country. . .We have had difficulty in Mississippi dur ing the last few years; it was due to the rather harsh approach to the Mississippi situation by the authorities here in Washington, by the Department of Justice.” Here again, the F. B. I. Dir ector must surely be aware that if the southern states had pro tected the civil rights of the Negro minority, there would have been no need for the Federal Govern ment or the Justice Department to- intervene. The F. B. I.’s role is to participate in investigations where local law enforcement agencies are unable or unwilling to do so. J. Edgar Hoover’s contribution to the security and well-being of these United States is vast and meritorious, it would be a pity if the twilight of his service as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation be clouded by un necessary controversy. Every effort should be made to re instill confidence in all our citi zens that the F. B. I. investi gative procedures are carried out in Justice without fear or favor. Welcoming Renewal Finally, to the Shepherd of the Flock, our Archbishop, must go the gratitude of all for his inspiration and solicitude in our faltering steps to Liturgical re form. The First Sunday of Advent this year was a momentous day for the Universal Church. A proper appreciation of Liturgical reform will make every day mo mentous from now on. The introduction of the verna cular into the Liturgy of the Church was achieved without any undue difficulty within the Arch diocese. Through the foresight of Archbishop Paul J, Hallinan and the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission, which works under his leadership, the people were well prepared for the authorized changes. Significantly, this preparation has led to an almost unanimous and enthusiastic reception. As we have said before, only an in telligent participation in and ce lebration of the Liturgy can make authentic renewal possible. This is why the Council Fathers turned their attention to the reform of Worship before efforts at reform in other directions. We are proud of the spirit of cooperation which has mani fested itself among the people of God in the Archdiocese, We are grateful to our priests for having so willingly given of themselves in the past few months that we may be worthy of the renewal and reform which we have embraced. It has been difficult for some- after all, change always is. The sacrifice of both the Clergy and the Laity in the special inter est of smooth transition to the vernacular was marked by ge nerosity and understanding. The Archdiocese will surely reap the spiritual benefits of all such works of charity and concern. Debts For Payment BY GERARD E. SHERRY The United Nations General Assembly which opens this we< k may well turn out to be one of the most momentous in history. This, because tiere is the pressing problem of non-payment of dues by the Soviet Union and several other coun tries, including a couple of our Allies. The compromise worked out this week by Secre tary of State Dean Rusk and Soviet Foreign Minis ter Gromyko does nothing to ease the crisis; rath er, it serves to ac-, centuate it. It is merely a question of‘ putting off the evili day or reckoning i^ hope that somehow by February we will be able to persuade the Soviet Union to pay its debts to the Unit ed Nations. By Feb ruary too, we will have the problem of France, one of the corner stones of our alliance, also be coming delinquent in its payments to the United REAPINGS AT RANDOM TO MY mind, the issue should have been faced this week, with this country taking its stand ac- * cording to the Charter, however unpleasant this may have been. If the rules state that those who don't support the United Nations within a given period lose their voting rights, then this should be the result. To suggest that more time is needed to work out compromises is a lot of "hog-wash". We have had almost one year to work out a com promise if such is in the best interests of the United Nations and its members. It is obvious that if the Soviet Union continues to refuse to pay its debts, then justice demands that it be deprived of its vote. Contaminated Water BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN Paul Shields did an excellent job as narrator and Charles Bond was equally superb in the photography which went together to make up a public service program over Channel 5 one evening last week. The program concerned itself with the sub ject of water contamination with the causes, problems and possible solutions to a very press ing and most important concer. INTERVIEWS with various f■■ Persons and pictures taken at ijr*' OT ’V' the actual scenes made for a most interesting and informa tive program. After watching the program my regret was that it did not receive more advance publicity because it was most enlightening. More publicity, I am sure, would have insured a greater au dience. From the standpoint of familiarity, the most interesting interview was the one with Ed Dodd. Ed Dodd is the creator of the internationally known comic strip MARK TRAIL which has over five million readers in this country and abroad. A Gainesville (Georgia) native, I met Ed Dodd when I was first assigned to Saint Michael’s. I was eating one of those famous smorgosbords featured on Sunday nights at the Dixie Hunt Hotel here in Gainesville. A group of friends seated with the famous cartoonisft asked me to join them. After the meal we spent a very interesting evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Dunlap Jr. MR. DODD has for years been interested in soil conservation and water pollution. Through his comic strip he has injected a note of seriousness whenever these problems become a topic of a series. In the interview Mr. Dodd spoke in the language of a layman and his point really got across. The beautiful scene surrounding his studio the stream, the foliage etc. tended to become a reality border ing on destruction as he spoke about the impend ing dangers now facing us if we neglect to care for our water supply. ONE OF THE things which was pointed out in the program and, I think, a point we often not often considered by the average person, is the fact that there now lurks as many health hazards in our water systems as there are in cigarettes and cigars. Continuous use of the rivers as a dumping ground for refuse from industrial firms has made many a beautiful river into a virtual cesspool. It was pointed out that Georgia, has an ad vantageous graphical position so far as water is concerned. However, the rapid growth of our big cities had put such a strain on our water and sewerage systems as to forsee the day when a halt might have to come to industrial expansion unless something is done real soon. THE PICTUERESQUE waters of Lake Lanier were painted as possessing a potential danger as great as any cesspool unfit to even swim in. Housewives may not even have to add deter gents to their water in washing unless we expand our purifying systems. Of course, the whole solution lies with money. Money is raises by taxes and .o one likes taxes. However, when you consider that an acre having a sewerage system intended for five families now has fifty families on the same spot...the problem becomes real as you contemplate just where does all the refuse go. It was a most interesting program and one which not only should, but does, concern all of us. I wish that Channel 5 would re-run it. Only this time with a little more advance publicity. ASIAN CHRISTIANITY Your World And Mine BY GARY MacEOIN Asia today differs frgm Africa in one basic respect. The penetration of Africa by Western culture has, I believe, reached a point of no re turn. Some African leaders talk of creating a civi lization based on indigenous African values. That such exist I do not deny. How ever, the destruction of the tra ditional society has been so ex tensive, and the current de pendence on outside sources for education and for material development is so complete, that what will emerge can at most be a sub-culture of the West. In Asia on the contrary, the tide of Western civilization that seemed destined as recently as a generation ago to sweep across the entire globe, has been turned back before it had made more than a dent. Today the native cultures are in full countermovement. All the new nations, as well as the old ones which have emancipated themselves (like China) from Western tutelage, are cancelling the advantages earlier accorded the languages, commerce and customs of the West. EVAN JAPAN, in its calculating way, is with drawing from the orgy of westernization which marked the Occupation years. One sees the change on television. A current serial glorifies a group of samurai warriors who waited long years in a sec ret brotherhood to avenge the defeat of their lord. One can measure it in religion. Christianity leaped forward immediately after the war. Now comes the turn of the "new religions" combining elements from Buddhism, Shintoism and other traditional beliefs. Our future world society will not be based on a triumphant Western civilization, as our forefath ers anticipated. It seems destined for a longtime to remain multi-cultural. Unlike the past, how ever, when different cultures inhabited separate parts of the globe with only minimal inter-pene tration, the future promises a relatively open world permitting and encouraging the exchange of people and ideas.The wall of separation around the Soviet empire is already crumbling. That around the Chinese cannot long stand. The civilization of the West was a product of Christianity, But by the time that the Western powers set out in the nineteenth century to domi nate Asia and open it to their commerce, they had officially ceased to be Christian. In addition, Christianity had become so divided as to be in the view of many an embarrassment. They sought to export their trinkets, accordingly, and later their Coca-Cola, as though these were the essential values they had to offer.The missionaries follow ed on their own account, the Western powers wel coming them only when they could use them to promote their material ends. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 We always claim we are realists and it is in this area that we face the main difficulty. It must be admitted that the majority of United Nations members are unwilling to support the United States despite the justice of its case. Many of the nations realize that depriving the Soviet Union of its vote is tantamount to expelling it from the World Organization. They think it will also mean the end of the United Nations and this few want. Our biggest problem is with the African-Asian block of so-called non-aligned nations. They are the '^iave nots" of the world and depend upon a multiplicity of United Nations services to operate as free and not-so-free independent countries. We spoke before of the phony neutrality being ex- poused by some African leaders. It is certainly the case in relation to the Soviet debts to the United Nations. rr IS also at the root of the problem In relation to the Congo. In this situation we have the United States called an aggressor whenits mercy mission to save white hostages of Congo rebels is under way. Even after the Belgian paratroopers have been air-lifted back to their own country in United States planes, the "aggressor" label is still used in Asia-African circles. Most of these same countries used a different standard when the So viet Union crushed the Hungarian rebels; when the Russians built the Berlin wall; when they put mis siles into Cuba. Interestingly enough, these Afri-Asian critics of ours get their arms from the Communistic world but their bread and butter from the West, especially the United States. Alas, it is more than a question of biting the hand that feeds you — it is a blatant amoral attitude of trying to get the best of both worlds without assuming any responsibili ties; many of these nations are actually free load ing on thd benefits of the United Nations at the ex pense of the United States. They demand a place of leadership in United Nation affairs but don’t have the cjlalities as individuals which respond to the needs of the times. The savage butchery by Con golese rebels against innocent white citizens has drawn little, if any, protest from other African leaders. Indeed, one of them is quoted assaying “If the whites hadn’t been there, there would have been no need for the massacres." These so-called neutrals know, although they won’t admit it, that the much hated white man (be he or she doctor, lawyer, missioner or Peace Corps volunteer) is making a vital contribution to Africa’s stability. The white volunteers often make considerable sacrifice to assist the under developed nations to the better life. Certainly, most of them would not even be independent if it wasn’t for the anti-colonial policy of the United States. Most of the foreign aid they receive from the United States is written off and what they pay for is usually through ridiculously low term interest rates and long term loans. SIXTH UNGRATEFUL attitudes on the part of the m ajority of Afro-Asian countries surely tries the patience and the good will of the United States. Yet, we must always remember that one of the prime virtues in leadership is patience, which is also a pre-requisite for charity. The American Govern ment and the people it serves have a proud record in international dealings. Mistakes have been made but these have been more than counter-bal anced by the truly good and correct approaches that have contributed so much to world stability. To my mind, the Russians should be told to pay their debts or lose the privileges of the "club". I think that our world leadership requires that we worry less about what the neutrals think and do what is right and proper to counteract a growing amorality in international affairs. 4 4 4 4