Newspaper Page Text
cese of Atlanta
YOUR
PRIZE-WINNING
NEWSPAPER
SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
■ VOL. 3, NO. 1
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1965
$5.00 PER YEAR
Expansion Program Announced
Pastoral Letter
Asks Sacrifices
MY DEAR PEOPLE:
The Archdiocese of Atlanta, in this brand new hopeful year of
1965, is launching its most vigorous program of expansion. In its
planning, much has already been spoken; and before Easter, much
more will still be said to make it possible. My letter to you, ac
cordingly, will be brief. It asks for your understanding, your
prayer, your sacrifice,
Georgia's Catholics have always been quick to understand the
Church's needs. Whether it was more priests
and sisters, new churches and schools, new
missions where there were few Catholics,
support for those in need—each generation has
grasped the point. Like her Founder, Jesus
Christ, the role of the Church is to go about
doing good. You have understood.
But our Catholic people know well that
without God, we can do nothing. So for more
than a century, voices have been raised in
praise, and gratitude to God, asking His help. In the quiet minutes
of family devotion; in the personal prayer of the individual soul;
at Sunday Masses and in the sacraments, you have unlocked the
great wisdom of blending human effort with divine grace. In the
present renewal of our worship, we are all finding new vitality and
deeper meaning. You have prayed.
And finally, with your understanding and prayer, I ask (as
all my predecessors have asked) for your full and unselfish sup
port. The objectives are not new* but they are tuned to our times,
I*-And in our Archdiocese, we Can all count upon the same unstin
ting spirit of sacrificial giving, of generous hearts willing
to share their goods for the work of God. That is what this 1965
Expansion is all about.
The Archdiocese is ready to meet its needs— specifically
four of them. We plan a new Village for our dependent children
i — modern, homelike and geared to give them the kind of lives
j that will mike them good Christian citizens. We plan a Catholic
I Center for Lay Action— to give pur 30 lay organizations a
place to work, and our whole community a share in the Catholic
Oecumenical future. We plan a Student Chapel and Newman Cen
ter at the University of Georgia where already more than 800
Catholic young people from all over the archdiocese are en-‘
rolled. We plan a High School Development Fund to provide the
property and plans we need for future high school growth.
You will note that every one of these four projects will be in
your interest whether you live in Atlanta or any other parish.
Our dependent children, our college youth, our lay organiza
tions come from every part of the archdiocese. The Catholic
view is never narrow. All of us serve the Church at large; all
of us share in God’s work.
What is the building of a Village of homes for children who
have no homes— but God’s own work? What is a Catholic Center
for our people to work in, to offer to our community an image of
the Catholic religion at work, to invite those of other faiths—
what is this but God’s work? What are our plans for Catholic edu
cation but obedience to Christ's mandate to teach? ?
Confident that you want to share to the full in this holy par
tnership with Our Lord, I ask upon each family, upon each in
dividual Catholic His blessing, — that this Program and this
Campaign will be for His greater glory and our own increase
in faith, hope and love.
Devotedly, your bishop under Christ
A DPW R1QHOD ATI AWT A
ARTIST'S conception of aerial view of proposed St. Joseph's Village.
NCCM ACTION
TYPICAL cottage for the proposed Village of St. Joseph.
Catholic Hour TV Marriage Series
Suddenly Dropped From Network
• SEE EDITORIAL, PAGE 4
NEW YORK (RNS)—A four-
part television series examin
ing the Catholic Church’s teach
ings on marriage and birth con
trol, scheduled to begin Sunday,
Jan. 3, was withdrawn upon the
request of a number of Ameri
ARCHBISHOP Hallinan shown explaining the expansion program projects.
can bishops two days before the
first program was to be tele
cast.
Produced by the National
Council of Catholic Men, the
program was to have been shown
over four consecutive weeks on
100 NBC stations throughout the
nation. The ‘‘Catholic Hour”
series has an audience of
1,500,000 each Sunday.
NO ANNOUNCEMENT of the
cancellation was made before
airtime. When the program be
gan, an announcer stated: ‘The
program originally scheduled
for this period has been post
poned in order to rerun the
award-winning series on the
Ecumenical Councils, ‘I Am
With You.'
Opposition by so-called con
servative prelates was cited as
the determining factor in with
drawing the series. Three of the
programs had been taped in ear
ly December; the fourth, a panel
discussion, was taped as the
scheduled first program was
being cancelled.
Some bishops, it was said,
pointed to Pope Paul's request
that no further ‘‘pronounce
ments" on the Church's posi
tion on birth control be made
until a special study ordered by
the pontiff has been completed.
The Pope’s statement was in
terpreted as asking churchmen
to avoid talk that would ques
tion the Church’s traditional
stance against artificial birth
control.
Philip Scharper, noted Cath
olic layman, author and editor
of Sheed & Ward, Catholic, was
narrator of the programs. He
said that the series constituted
‘‘a balanced, sane, non-parti
san presentation of the birth
control issue up to the present.”
The programs were "really
qt ite good,” he added.
THE SERIES had been written
by John Leo, an associate edi
tor of The Commonweal, na
tional Catholic weekly edited
by laymen.
Barret McGurn, longtime cor
respondent in the Vatican, said
in his coverage of the' story
here that ‘‘the episode was an
illustration of the tensions now
Generous Aid
BONN, Germany (NC)—This
year’s Christmastime collec
tion among German Catholics
for seminaries in Latin Ameri
ca has reached $10,000,000,
an increase of 10 percent over
last vear’s total.
building yp among the 45 mil
lion United States Catholics as
the late Pope John XXIII’s ag-
giornamento — updating —
reaches this country,”
“Reportedly,” said Mr. Mc
Gurn in the Herald-Tribune,
‘‘the protest against the series
came from Francis Cardinal
Spellman's New York chancery
office. .
IT WAS also reported, he add
ed, ‘‘the New York chancery
office protested to Archbishop
Patrick A, O’Boyle of Washing
ton (chairman of the adminis
trative board of the National
Catholic Welfare .Conference)
... He passed the matter to
Archbishop Leo Binz in St.
Paul, Minnesota, chairman of
the subdivision for laymen's
organizations.”
At this point, his report stat
ed, Martin vVork, directorofthe
National Council of Catholic
Men, withdrew the series to
prevent controversy.
In New York, the archdioce
san chancery office reported
it had not known of the cance
llation until apprised by news
men. A spokesman noted that
Cardinal Spellman was still at
Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. base
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Children’s Village,
Lay Center Planned
Plans for an Archdiocesan
Expansion Program to encom
pass buidling projects in the
fields of child welfare, lay ac
tion, Newman movement and a
high school development fund,
were announced today by Arch
bishop Paul J. Hallinan.
The projected plans call for
an expenditure of more than two
million dollars, but the mini
mum aim of the 1965 Expan
sion Campaign to raise funds
for the program has been set at
$1,750,000.
THE PROGRAM includes
construction of a Village of St.
Joseph at a site in southwest
Atlanta which will house boys
and girls from broken families:
a Catholic Center for Lay Ac
tion which will be constructed
in the downtown area on a site
facing Ivy Street and a new
Student Chapel and New man
Center at the University of
Georgia at Athens.
The Expansion Program will
also include allocation of funds
for future high school develop
ment in the southern part of
Atlanta, and in future years oth
er cities of the Archdiocese.
In announcing the multi-pur
pose Program, Archbishop
Hallinan explained that the Ex
pansion Program of 1965
will touch upon several means
in which the Archdiocese has a
vital interest. These include
child welfare, lay leadership
and education both on the coll
egiate and high school levels.
HE EXPLAINED that for
some time it has been the hope-
of the Archdiocese to provide a
home for dependent children,
both boys and girls, at a
site within easy access of the
exceptional medical, and educa
tional facilities offeredby met
ropolitan Atlanta.
In its new site in southwest
ern Atlanta, the Village of St.
Joseph will enable the Archdio
cese to bring together under its
care the children of broken or
helpless families. At the pre
sent time, boys from such fam
ilies are cared for at St. Jose
ph’s Home in Washington. Since
the Archdiocese has no simi
lar facility for Girls it must
place dependent girls in St.
Mary’s Home for Girls in Sav
annah. The opening of the new
Village of St. Joseph will per
mit the reuniting of families and
place the youngsters close to
Atlanta’s superior educational
and child care facilities. The
Sisters of St. Joseph will ad
minister the new Village.
THE SECOND project is the
construction of a Catholic Cen
ter for Lay Action on property
adjoining Sacred Heart Church
facing Ivy Street in downtown
Atlanta.
In recent years, the growth
of lay activity and the position
of Atlanta as the Metropolitan
See of the southeast in the stru
cture of the Roman Catho
lic Church in America has
accentuated the need for a
"Center” in which lay organi
zations might concentrate their
effort and expand their pro
grams.
Focal point will be a Lecture
Hall seating four hundred in
perfect' accoustical surround-
CONTEMUED ON PAGE 8
HUGHES SPALDING, Sr.
Campaign
Chairmen
Hughes Spalding, Sr., of
Atlanta North Georgia’s leading
Catholic layman, has accepted
the Honorary Chairmanship of
the Archdiocesan Expansion
Program Campaign, Arch
bishop Hallinan announced
this week.
The, Archbishop also announ
ced that G. Albert Lawton would
be general Chairman and Mich
ael J. Egan, Jr. would be As
sistant General Chairman.
CHAIRMEN of the special
gifts committees are: Msgr.
Joseph G. Cassidy, P. A., V.G.,
Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish,
Milledgeville; Father John F.
McDonough, Pastor of Christ
the King Cathedral; Hughes
Spalding, Jr.; Furman Smith;
Alex Smith, and Rawson Hav-
erty.
It was also announced that
a special gifts committee with
28 members is in the process
of organization. These names
will be announced at a future
date.
MICHAEL J. EGAN, Jr.
G. ALBERT LAWTON