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rVOL. 3, NO. 2 ATLANTA, GEORGIA inUKSUAi, J AJNUAKY 14, 1905 4>D.UU IrtiK YtAK SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES FOR CHURCHES i Tax Exemptions Constitutional: Maryland Court SPECIAL GIFTS Expansion Program Committee Set Up BALTIMORE— A circuit i court judge has ruled that tax exemptions for church proper ty violate neither the U. S. . nor the Maryland constitutions and has suggested that it might in fact be unconstititionalto tax church property. These views were expressed in a memorandum opinon by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge [Wilson Barnes explaining , his dismissal of a suit against property tax exemptions for f churches. THE SUIT was brought by Mrs. Madalyn Murray, much- publicized Baltimore atheist, and others against a number of state tax officials. Entering the [ case as intervenors in support of the tax exemptions were Archbishop Lawrence J. Shehan [ of Baltimore, the episco pal Diocese of Maryland, the Maryland Synod of the Luthe ran Church in America. Temple Emanuel of Baltimore, and Uni ted Christian Citizens, Inc. Judge Barnes dismissed the suit Dec. 17, explaining at the time that he would file a me morandum giving his reasons later. In his written opinion he de clared that the tax exemption for church property, grant ed under Maryland law, is “a reasonable, proper and non- discriminatory exemption which does not result in an es tablishment of religion or pro hibit the free exercise thereof. "The exemption. . . repre- [ sents government neutra lity, not prohibited by the First Amendment," he held. JUDGE BARNES noted that Maryland grants tax exemp tions to 56 other categor- ' ies of groups besides churches, including hospitals, charitable institutions, fraternal orders, 1 veterans organizations,histori- 3. cal societies, the Boy Scouts f and the Girl Scouts. Also, he | said, all 50 states and the : District of Columbia exempt i'^Church property from taxation, -and courts have always upheld 2 these exemptions. « "It is well settled that the Estate may select its objects of ■ taxation and may decline alto- ; gether to tax certain kinds of property, as long as there %is a reasonable basis for the :. exemption. . . . All that is necessary is a showing of some ,fe fairly discernible relationship VKRCELLI MEDALIST — A I f red A. _ McGarrag-hy, Washington, p. C„ H o 1 y Name leaden has been named to leceive the Vercelli Medal for 1965, awarded annually by the national headquarters of the Holy Name Society. PUBLIC, PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS Poverty Plan Will Aid All WASHINGTON (NC)-Presi- dent Johnson’s much-heralded plan for Federal aid to educa tion emerged as a new venture to encourage public and pa rochial school cooperation to aid needy children. Advertised in advance by ad ministration spokesmen as in tended to cut through the Church-State impasse over aid, the President’s program calls primarily for $1 billion to be given public school districts enrolling children from needy families. PAROCHIAL and other pri vate schools would participate, according to administration spokesmen, through extension to them by local public schools of shared services and other special education projects. Spokesmen said such projects could include bookmobiles, edu cational television, mobile science laboratories, and re medial classes in subjects such as reading which would be set up in private school space, but conducted by public school authorities. "Every encouragement will be given that public and paro chial schools systems work to gether," said a spokesman. He noted that of the 5,000,000 child ren classified by the adminis tration as coming from poverty- stricken families, an estimated 15% are in parochial schools. The President said in his ed ucation message to Congress (Jan. 12) that he also favors other forms of assistance. They are smaller in scope than the aid to public school districts. IN TWO of the lesser pro posals, parochial school pupils would share directly. These are a $100 million pro gram of grants to assist in the purchase of library and text books and a $100 million effort to establish centers in which special courses and cultural enrichment programs would be nefit both public and private school children. In the textbook program pro posed by Mr. Johnson, an administration spokesman said that if a state is prevented by constitutional provisions oi - statutes from channeling such assistance to private schools, the Federal government would do it directly. This has a pre cedent in the Federal school lunch program. The books, it was explained, would be those used in local public school classes or select ed by public schools as library volumes. AS FOR the proposed Fed eral “supplementary centers," the President sees these as sites of assistance to both slow learners and the gifted through specially arranged courses. "Within each community, public and private non-profit schools and agencies will coop erate to devise the plan and administer the program for these supplementary centers. Common Prayer ALBANY, N. Y. (NC)— The Catholic and Episcopal Di oceses of Albany and the Cap ital Area Council of Churches will join in sponsoring a pro gram of "common prayer for Christian unity" Jan. 18 to 25. Their services should be adapt ed to meet the pressing needs of each locality," Mr. Johnson said in his message. Other parts of the President's proposal to aid elementary and secondary schools includea$45 million expansion of Federal involvement in research, through regional educational laboratories, in which new courses and textbooks would be developed. He also proposed a $10 million effort to strengthen state educational agencies and a $150 million program to raise the level of pre-school facili ties for children of slum areas. UNDER THE President’s program of aid to public, school districts, which are found to be "poverty-impacted," funds would be given any district in which 100 children, or three percent of all pupils, come from families whose income is less than $2,000 per year. Administration spokesmen admitted this would include be- (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8) He said there is "much" in the decisions of the U. S. Sup reme court- 'which gives "aid and comfort to” this view. "Complete exeption of hou ses of worship, parsonages and appurtenant land from real estate taxation by the state is far more calculated to maintain the required neutral ity than any possible system of taxation could be," Judge Barnes said. “The states and the United States do well not to enter this 'religious ticket," CURRENTLY another major church-state text case is pend ing in Maryland, involving the constitutionality of state laws giving matching construction grants to four church-related colleges. Arguments in the case were heard last month in Anne Arun del County Circuit Court in An napolis and a ruling is expect ed soon. The plaintiffs in that case are the Horace Mann Lea gue, an organization of public school administrators, and 13 Maryland taxpayers. Organization of the Archdio cesan Expansion Program moved ahead rapidly this week in two areas. Seventeen laymen joined the Special Gifts Com mittee which now totals twenty- five priests and laymen. At the same time, in preparation for the eventual visitation of every Catholic household, Archbishop Hallinan disclosed that the parishes of the Archdiocese will be divided into six regions for administrative purposes. Ap pointment of priest regional moderators and lay regional chairmen will be announced next week, the Archbishop said. Cardinal Takes Turn For Verse BOSTON (NC)-—In answer to countless questions on the current state of his health, Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston turned poet and diagnostician. A poem printed in the weekly "News Notes from the Cardinal" section of the Pilot, Boston archdiocesan newspaper, presented an imposing array of symptoms with the concluding refrain, repeated three times, "I’m awfully well for the shape that I’m in." The full text of the poem reads as follows: I’M FINE I live out in Brighton, close to BC. * And I’m just as healthy as I can be. I have arthritis in both my knees And when I must speak, then I talk with a wheeze. My pulse is weak and my blood is quite thin But I’m awfully well for the shape that I’m in. I need arch supporters to strengthen my feet. My ankles are swollen; I’m white as a sheet. I toss in my bed without sleep every night; . No wonder each morning I look like a sight. My memory is failing, my head’s in a spin, But I’m awfully well for the shape that I’m in. Diverticulitis is a word hard to spell But it’s a disease from which I’ll never get well. Ulcers that keep me on a diet with malox Prevent me from resting in funeral box. The length of my sermons brings yawns or a grin, But I’m awfully well for the shape that I’m in. The moral is, friends, as this tale I unfold, That for you and for me who are fast growing old, It’s better to say, "I am fine" with a grin Than to let people know of the shape that we’re in. ’BOSTON COLLEGE between the good of the person receiving the exemption andthe good of the community," he said. "For the state to exempt the property of other charit able corporations. . . and de cline to exempt the property of houses of worship. . . would indeed be an act of ’hostility toward the religious’ and would represent' a brooding devotion to the secular’ . . . prohibit ed by the First Amendment. This would destroy the princi ple of 'neutriality' and would, in effect, cause government to intervene on the side of the- secular and non-believer," he said. THE JUDGE took particular note of the argument put for ward by Temple Emanuel that it would actually be unconstit utional undar the First Amend ment’s guarantee of free exer cise of religion for the state to tax church property. SOME OF the new gram. the .children at St. Joseph’s Home, Washington Georgia who will the benficiaries of St. Joseph’s Village planned for Atlanta as part of the Archdiocesan Expansion Prq- The seventeen new men were welcomed at the first organi zational meeting of the Special Gifts Committee by G. Albert Lawton, General Campaign Chairman. Archbishop Hallinan was the principal speaker of the evening and reviewed the four projects included in the Arch diocesan Expansion Program. In speaking to the new com mitteemen Archbishop Hallinan expressed his gratification at the many expressions of sup port and encouragement which have come from Catholics in all parts of the Archdiocese who learned of the four pro jects of the Expansion Program through an announcement in the Georgia Bulletin and in the daily and weekly papers and on radio and television. The projects include a new home for dependent boys and girls, the Village of St. Joseph, in southwestern Atlanta; a Catholic Center for Lay Ac tion on Ivy Street in downtown Atlanta, a Student Chapel and Newman Center at the Univer sity ; of Georgia in Athens and the beginning of a High School Development Fund. Archbishop Hallinan stressed that the total needs for all four projects were in excess ELECTED coadjutor abbot of St. Martin’s Abbey, Olym pia, Wash., is Father Gerald Desmond, O.S.B., who will succeed Abbot Raphael Hei- der, O.S.B., upon confirma tion by the Holy See. Arefidiocese of Atlanta YOUR PRIZE-WINNING NEWSPAPER G. ALBERT Lawton, general chairman of the Archdiocesan Ex- pansion Program, shown discussing detail of plans with Archbishop Paul j. Hallinan. The new members include: Edward G. Rice, Jr., Robert Troutman,, Sr„ P. Joseph Do ran, Leonard Long, Judge Sam Phillips McKenzie, James Haynes, Leon Kaniecki, Dr. Bruce Jagor, J. Wallace Win- borne, Jr., Dr. Reese Coleman, Jr., Dr. William Hopkins, Ri chard L. deGolian, Dr. Spald ing Schroder, Patrick McGinn, Hal Cook, Frank McGaughey, Chess Lagomarsino and Russell Bellman. Already serving as Chairmen Of the Committee are: Msgr. Joseph A. Cassidy, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Milledge- ville; Father John F. Mc Donough, Pastor of Christ the King Cathedral; Hughes Spald ing, Jr.; Furman Smith; Alex W. Smith, Jr. and RaWson Hav- erty. of $2,000,000 and expressed the hope that the Special Gifts Com mittee could account for a sub stantial portion of the $1,750,000 minimum goal which has been established for the Campaign. Committee Chairmen indi cated that additional members, both priests and laymen, will be added to the group and that the Special Gifts Committee’s activity would begin immediate ly. A Report Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday evening January 28th in Cathedral Cent er. Very Rev. Harold J. Rainey, Chancellor, announced that a Central Campaign Headquart ers has been opened in Cathed ral Center on East Wesley Road adjacent to the Chancery Offices.