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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1965
the
Archdiocese of Atlanta
SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
Published Every Week at the Decatur DeKalb News
PUBLISHER- Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
MANAGING EDITOR Gerard E. Sherry
CONSULTING EDITOR Kev. R. Donald Kiernan
2699 Peachtree N, E.
P. O. Box 11667
Northside Station
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
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 Atlanta, Ga.
U. S. A. $5.00
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Votes Or Justice?
The current unrest in Ameri-
cus is but another example of the
total lack of effective and cour
ageous political leadership in
many Southern communities.
The senseless killing of Andy
Whatley, a 19-year-old white
youth, deserves the strongest
condemnation and his killers
should be brought to account in
accordance with the law. We
said the same thing when Lt. Col.
Lemuel Penn, a Negro Reserve
officer was shot by night riders
outside Athens, while returning
to his home in Washington, D.C.
The violence committed by
night and day riders, be they Ne
gro or white, must be checked
by all possible means; and not
only by the law enforcement agen
cies, but more important, by the
courage and objective leadership
of state and local officials. Vio
lence begets violence, and the in
nocent, including Andy Whatley,
are its victims.
We are therefore disturbed
that it took the death of the youth,
to gain official concern for the
strife in Americus. Before last
Wednesday’s killing, Governor
Sanders stated that the situation
was a ’‘local affair” which did
not require State intervention.
Yet it was obvious for sometime
that justice was being denied to
the Negroes of Americus and
Sumter County. The year-old
Civil Rights Law was not being
fully imple mented in that area;
was not .accepted by many of the
white citizenry ; and this is also
true in other areas in Georgia.
Th lack of objective leader
ship in our State is clearly ap
parent in Governor Sanders as
sertion that peaceful demonstra
tors in Americus are being pro
tected by the police. Television
cameras and newspaper photo
graphs in the past few days
have shown the Governor to be
badly misinformed. He should
have visited Americus before
now to find out for himself.
Perhaps the prestige of his of
fice would have helped calm both
sides.
It is useless to plead for dem
onstrations to stop, unless at the
same time positive steps are.
taken to right the wrongs against
those involved. It is naive to ask
the demonstrators to take the
grievences to the courts for re
dress, when one considers the
time such litigation takes. It
must be remembered that last
week’s release of four women
jailed in Americus, for using a
white entrance to a polling booth,
was not accomplished through the
efforts of local or county offi
cials. It took the office of the U.S.
Attorney General and the Fed
eral Courts to effect their re
lease.
Georgia and the rest of the
South will continue to be plagued
by demonstrations and civic strife
until the white power structure
rids itself of outmoded theories
of racial pride and prejudice.
Not until the politicians and oth
er officials give the necessary
leadership can we hope for the
ordinary citizen to follow in cre
ating that climate necessary for
civic peace and tranquillity. The
problem is, few of our State and
local officials, look beyond the
next elections. Alas, they have
not yet learned that it is better
to go down to defeat in a just
cause, that to gain victory rid
ing the coattails of hate and vio
lence.
The New South is slowly emer
ging. Its proponents aj^&itngn anq ,
women who want justice for ali;
they want economic, social and
spiritual progress to go hand in
hand; they want “Southern Hos
pitality” to mean more than mint
juleps and pecans; they want our
South to be a land of good will,
in which men of all races and
creeds can work together to build
a society of love and trust, in
which there is equal opportunity
and equal justice.
The recent events in Americus,
Bogalusa, Selma, Greensboro and
other centers of Southern strife,
give striking evidence that the
South has yet to produce a suf
ficient cadre of courageous polit
icians who will lead instead of
being led. Alas, votes seem
more important than justice. Yet,
until we have men of political
courage and integrity, our new
South will remain a dream. All
the economic progress which we
have enjoyed in the past decade
will serve us little if we cannot
at the same time progress to
wards better human relations.
Civic, Not Political Fight
One thing which seems to have
harmed efforts to curb smut ped
dlers is the obvious right wing
political orientation of our loud
est advocates of anti-obscenity
This is unfortunate.
The general public should rea
lize that the fight against smut
profiteers is their fight, too.
People must realize that they
can be for the United Nations,
civil rights for Negroes, wel
fare and free speech and still be
100 per cent against lowering
community standards.
Liberal legislators must rea
lize that a vote to protect our
youth from printed or filmed gut
ter sex is not a vote against
freedom to read or to write. Un
warranted censorship by govern
ment or by citizen vigilante
groups is to be feared and avoid
ed. But legislation to maintain
high community standards against
obscenity is necessary as any law
against rape or murder.
And this ranting about the cur
rent tide of obscene material
and shows being part of a Com
munist plot to undermine our
constitutional government is ba
loney. It looks too much like a
good old capitalistic plot to make
some easy money, exploiting our
weak human nature.
So long as there are gullible
suckers who will pay the esti
mated 100 to 200 per cent mark
up for a smutty paperback or
more than $2 to see a girlie
movie, there will be pressure
to allow this freedom of enter
prise in our communities. So
long as otherwise respectable
gentlemen patronize places which
feature the “topless,” this will
remain a lucrative business.
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
REGISTER
The Menace
GEORGIA EIMS
No Short Cut For Work
CIVIC TASK
Leadership
In Apostolate
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Here in Atlanta last weekend Catholic leaders
in the South, bishops, clergy and laity, met in
convention to discuss “Social Change and Chris
tian Response”. The purpose of the meetings
was to provide an opportunity for Church officials
and lay leaders to assess the problems of human
relations in the South; to explore changes in the
social fabric of the region; to consider the im
plications to the Church and to suggest responses.
To me the meeting was an overwhelming suc
cess because it
pointed up the fact
that the layman is
going to be the key
person in any
Christian re
sponse or impact
on the new South;
the layman is go
ing to have to
study the region,
find the area in which he is best suited in his
profession or trade and bring that Christian wit
ness to fruition> despite the perplexities, com
passions; and the emotions and the concerns of
his neighbors. The object is to restore Chris
tian values to the whole of life. And while we
were primarily concerned about the new South,
the principles involved affect the whole nation.
IT REQUIRES good citizens, loyal to their
country and faithful to the duties entailed in their
professional or trade status. We Catholics are
expected to participate in the cultural life of the
people and to enrich it by our own particular con
tribution based upon the teaching of the Church.
The economic and social problems of our com
munity and state and federal governments should
be of paramount interest to us. And it should be
our object to promote the spiritual, social and ma
terial welfare of our country in every way possi
ble. In this way we will surely acquire that sense
of communion, that spirit of solidarity with the
people of all classes and creeds, so that we can
live among them as brothers of each other and
children of the common Father.
REAPINGS
AT
RANDOM
BY REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Some wise sage once said, that the world be
longs to those who prepare for it. In modern
day terminology it might be restated that: there is
no short cut for work. I’m sure that everyone
knows at least one person who is perpetually
waiting for his ship to come in; or someone the
world seems to have passed by.
Often we write off a dreamer as a lazy man.
Yet. were it not for intelligent
mendreaming, about.ideas many
of J^e f . conveniences vepj^jjpy^ t
today,” and take fob‘granted,
might never have been invent
ed.
Last week at the weekly meet
ing of the West End Rotary Club,
I heard a talk which might be
put into this category. Yet the
longer the speaker talked his listeners became
aware of the possibility, necessity and feasabili-
ty of such a plan.
THETALKwas delivered by English-born, former
college professor turned businessman, Robert
Summerville, the head of theAtlantaTransit. Mr.
Summerville’s talk was about Rapid Transit.
I, like most I am sure, thought that after the
fall election when the voters of four of the five
counties in the metropolitan area approved Rapid
T ransit that construction would begin immediate
ly.
I was shocked when I learned that RapidTransit
for the Atlanta Area is as much as 20 years away.
Yet when Mr. Summerville told about the cost of
planning, acquiring property rights etc. it is easy
to see why the project is so far away. Compared
with the length of time that the expressway sys
tem has been under construction this 20 year per
iod appears comparatively short, however.
WHY NOT a rapid transit modeled after Seatde’s
monorail? Here I learned that aside) of shaking
people like a bucket of bolts that the train cannot
go much faster than 20 miles an hour when it is
raining,
A subway system seems to be oiit too. The
hills around Atlanta would still present difficul
ties walking to and from the subway stations.The
disruption of traffic while a subway is under con
struction would only add to the del ima of the 5 p.m.
expressway confusion.
Naturally Mafet 'Rummerviliei waS=ithfere ItPsifig
the praises of the Atlanta Transijt System. And
after hearing him talk 1 think he/ was justified.
When you consider the number /of passengers,
miles traveled and areas that ar6 served by this
“non-profit organization ,” as Mr. Summerville
put it, they are doing a good job. One fact that can
not be ignored is that the Atlanta System is
privately owned and is not subsidized by the gov
ernment. Being privately owned the company pays
taxes. This is not true of every city. Some com
panies are owned by the city, receive subsidies
and supported by the tax payers. This means
that the rider is paying a Rouble fare; his token
and his taxes. Atlanta is fortunate in having a
transportation system that is run in a business
like fashion by men like Bob Summerville.
WHO ARE the big complainers about the Atlanta
T ransit System? Usually the man who wants to
justify the purchase of a new car and has plunged
himself into debt. Then the motorist who has to
stop his car while one of those “big buses”
changes lines. Poor motorist never stops to think
that each one of those buses means about 20 cars
less on the street.
Well what is Mr. Summerville’s plan? It is a
moving sidewalk. Still in the idea stage and prob
ably a lot of dreaming is being done about it but
I venture to say that Mr. Transportation'Will work
it out.
RIGHT TO KEEP THE PEACE
Your World And Mine
BY GARY MacEOIN
Triumphalism was not ably absent from the re
cent celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of
the founding of the United Nations. It was more
like a meeting around a sick bed, a meeting at
which, estranged relatives berated each other for
causing the illness, and at which the doctors
urged mutually incompatible remedies.
One of the reasons for the gloom about the UN,
as Secretary General U Thant has pointed out, is
the proposal for permanent in
ternational police forces not un
der UN control. The idea ob
viously arose from the decision
to soften the impact of the Unit
ed States landings in Santo Do
mingo by bringing in troops
from some Latin American
countries and putting the occu
pation forces under the com
mand of the Organization of
American States, It was formally developed by
President Johnson in an address at Baylor Uni
versity),
WHATEVER theoretic merits the proposal
might (enjoy, it would seem to come up against
one concrete fact. It is in clear violation of the
Charter of the United Nations. And while the
Charter is not so sacred as to be incapable of
amendment, there does not seem to be the slight
est possibility of getting the member nations to
gether even to discuss Charter revision.
The Charter, it is true, approves of regional
arrangements or agencies whose object is to en
courage peaceful settlement of local disputes, and
to help maintain international peace and security.
It immediately adds, however, that "no enforce
ment action shall be taken under regional arrange
ment or by regional agencies without the authori
zation of the Security Council,”
There is just one exception to this provision,
and it. is worth noting. Remembering the un
happy experience of the League of Nations, the
authors of the Charter stipulated in Article 107
that problems arising out of World War II were
outside the jurisdiction of the UN and were re
served for the Big Four among the victors. This
is noteworthy, because the Big Four have not yet
agreed on peace terms, nor is there much sign of
their doing so. It is one reason why the UN can
not keep the peace. There is no peace to keep.
THE FORMATION and maintenance of regional
police forces is not forbidden. But they cannot
take action without prior approval of the Security
Council, And the entire Johnson argument hinges
on this point. He wanted a force that could be
pressed rapidly into action in spite of the veto to
be anticpated in the Security Council,
Quite apart from the legal issues, however, it
seems to me that there are weighty arguments
against the proliferation of “regional police for
ces’* authorized to act without reference to the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
The lay apostolate is not a luxury for the few
but an obligation for all. The immense growth
of this country calls for a greater effort on the
part of the Catholic laity to play their role in
national life. There are so many things to be
done, so many things to be upheld — the dignity
of the individual -- the sanctity of marriage —
the dignity of the family. And in this country,
where the progress of Catholic education is quick-,
ening, we must encourage and spread out Catholic,;
scholarship. Here again the true Catholic scholar
is one who seeks truth wherever he can find it.
He knows there can be no essential conflict be-
iaa tween truths of reason and truths of Revelation,
between natural s.fasupeniaturaMcnowledge, be
tween what his faith teaches him and what he
learns from observation of the universe about
him and of man.
FOR THE CATHOLIC scholar the truths of
Revelation are both a help and a safeguard,
A help because they give him new insights into
the universe and God’s designs upon it, a safe
guard because they tell him when his mind is going
astray and when his mind is being led far from
truth by passion. And never forget that the formal
object of Catholic education is the pursuit of
truth in its fullness, in all its aspects and branch
es. If secular education fails in this regard,
then Catholic education must be prepared to show
the way. But it will not come to pass unless
Catholic educators and Catholic scholars become
truly leaders in their respective fields of know
ledge.
The Southern Leaders Conference contained a
lot of exhortation. Indeed, some of us thrive on
exhortation. But I sincerely believe that meet
ings such as these are not the focal point of our
Catholic life. They are useless unless they be the
means whereby we join together with each other
determined to live up to our obligations to our
families, our priests, our bishops. And loyalty
and obedience to our priests and bishops is essen
tial if we are to succeed. In these hard days
there is always the tendency to retreat within the
confines of the parish church -- to withdraw into
the Church, leaving the world to others whose
standards of morality and ethics we cannot agree
with. Yet this is the hour when we should be
spreading out in unity from the walls of the
parish, spreading the Light and the Truth in our
factories, workshops, homes — yes, even in our
leisure moments...
I am reminded of the constant plea of the Holy
Father for the laity to make a greater effort in the
apostolic mission of the Church, He does not
make this plea simply because there is a short
age of priests in some parts of the world. That
is an erroneous impression which many so-called
Catholic Actionists have. The Pope is simply
reminding us of our obligations — for indeed we
are in duty bound to participate in sorpe measure
in the Apostolate. We therefore know what we
are and where we are going. We are not ab
stractions* disincarnate beings. We are flesh
and blood, with unique personality, our own
heredity, our own temperament, our own his
tory, our, own resources. It is through all that
makes up our life that we must attain our eternal
destiny; our home life, our labor, our recrea
tion, our courtship, our marriage, are no more
than steps forward to our destiny. Our education,
our apprenticeship in work, our preparation for
marriage — these things are not accidents of
fortune nor of personal choice alone - they are
the means willed by God whereby we are able to
reach our personal perfection, fulfill our social
mission and attain our salvation.