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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1966 the Archdiocese of Atlanta A. ,* ! i \'MV 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 R ev. R. Donald Kiernan ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew Member of the Catholic Press Association , 2699 Peachtree N. E. P. O. Box 11667 Northside Station Atlanta, Georgia 30305 "and Subscriber to N. C. W. C.~*Nfews Service Telephone 231-1281 Second Class Permit at Atlanta, Ga. U. S. A. $5.00 Canada $5.00 Foreign S6.50 Legislative Folly Monday was a bleak day for democracy. Georgia legislators refused to seat Representative- elect Julian Bond of the 136th House District because of his support for a Student Non-Vio lent Coordinating Committee statement which condemned U.S. action in Vietnam and expressed sympathy for draft-card burners. Mr. Bond made it clear that he wouldn’t destroy his own card, even though he said he admired those who had the courage to do so. We deplore the SNCC state ment and we disagree with its rash charges concerning U.S. Government conduct in the Viet nam conflict. We think Mr. Bond’s support of the SNCC stand to be imprudent, to say the least. But imprudence is not a crime; and in this possible vice he has much company, including many other politicians. Furthermore we have a similar example of Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, who has many times condemned the U.S. action in Vietnam. Yet we do not find any of his collea gues in Congress prepared to ask for his ouster. Indeed, there is widespread disagreement over Vietnam among many responsible citizens. What is the issue here? Cer tainly not Mr. Bond’s support of the SNCC statement. Rather it is his right to be seated in the Geor gia House, in as much as he is the legally elected representative of the people of the 136th House District. The House refusal to admit him was based almost so lely on a emotional reaction to his statement. This sets a dan gerous precedent which can lead to the eventual silencing of any dissent from the majority view point. The right to dissent is a pre cious one. Georgia state and local officials have many times exer cised it in relation to Civil Rights. They have opposed Federal laws on the subject. Some have failed to comply with them, until forc ed to by court action. Yet no one dared suggest that they were not fit to hold office. We would have hoped that the question of race would be kept out of the issue. Alas, some legisla tors brought the subject up. Mr. Bond is a Negro and an official of SNCC. These legislators may have had their victory, but at what a price? Mr. Bond has been “martyred” and the SNCC state ment has received more publi city than it deserves. Further more, racial tensions, which had been reduced to the minimum in this state may now be increased, and the good name of Georgia tarnished. " ,'r ’• r/: To our mind, it is all un necessary. No one has yet legally found Mr. Bond’s support of the SNCC statement to be subversive or unconstitutional. So far he is merely in dissent from the ma jority viewpoint. The legislators therefore should have seated Mr. Bond and then taken any appro priate action after a thorough investigation of all the circlirS- stances. There is one other’ tragic aspect of this case. The Legis lature has deprived the people of the 136th District of their rightful representation:' in the House. The majority of these citizens have had to wait until recent times to be able to ex ercise their constitutional right to elect the person of their choice. The Georgia House has struck a blow against the demo cratic process in nulifying the free choice of these citizens. We hope the courts will reverse the ruling. A Darkness Lifting 1 GEORGIA PINES Needed-Some Friends cni -. f*»‘ • 'ifteitMdifcv. sal {IL BY FR. DONALD KIERNAN bnr. ieiaemployees have to wait until the regular pay isvweLL, here we are 12 days into the new year 'r tsn *tts.y. Human , nature doesn’t change. There are i and already my resolutions have passed as faS? iJK ^still those , who subscribe to the philosophy that as the cold snap we had last week here in At- a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 1/0 lanta. I decided that during 1966 I would not g&¥ * CCD Apostolate The Archdiocesan Department of Catholic Education has ar ranged special courses for teach ers in the parochial Confraterni ty of Christian Doctrine class es. Details and the schedule of dates can be found on page 7--- There is no more important work than that of religious edu- Cut the Knot cation. Recent Pontiffs have stressed the essential value of CCD for those who have not the opportunity to attend Catholic schools. Catholic education in cludes the material elements, but it is primarily the education of the soul. What is more, parents have the obligation to continue it in family life, apart from the life of their childre entrusted to the educational care of parochial or public schools. Owing to the shortage of priests and religious in CCD work, lay volunteers are in con stant demand. But the volun teers, themselves need training; not only in methods of teaching but, more importantly in the content of their religion. The CCD teachers courses now being offered present a gol den opportunity for the laity to share in this vital apostolate. It will require some sacrifice of time in study and preparation. But its recompense will be in the sure knowledge that our young people will come closer to understanding the treasures of their faith; that mature Chris tians will be nurtured to carry on the vital work of ‘‘restoring all things in Christ.” ns upset about anything. Then last week it started: going over ■to-the church for the 7 a.m. Mass, the front lawn looked as if a carnival had been held the night before. Remembering that new year’s resolution I excused the incident by concoling my- . -self with the fact that Sam, the mythical paper man, probably had the flu. Then when this ri tual continued for ten confpcutiv^ days I realized that I had assumed the Pole of % Sam. Out in the country where public services are not expected to be as efficent as they are in the great cities things like picking up the lawn is takenfor grant- 1 ed. I’ve often thought that a rural pastor is, bbtii Pope and janitor in- his own domain, but, ‘ Jlv iiere in the busteling city, .especially a city whtcfi pr|?es itself on civic accomplishments, it does' ; j£l sfem strange that its so difficult to keep a street. ° H .<$!$• fio-x \ a lev i v I’ll probably incur the wrath of some social Workers and then draw down the ire of reha-" bilationists and finally end up like that city mana ger in New York who suggested that some wel fare workers be put to work. The fact of the matter is this, I believe that some people on wel fare would rather work and preserve their hu man dignity that merely, sit around waiting for a check from the city for doing nothing. Sani tation work does not demand skilled labor, but it is a necessary service and I think something that demands first attention. POSSIBLY the fault lies with the manner in which these people are "employed. Some golf courses always seem to, have an abundance of caddies and I’m sure that a man doing sanita tion work would receive just as much in wages, if not more, than a caddy. But herein lies the crux of the problem: caddies are paid as soon as their services are performed while town trtevog Recently I was talking to a man who had been gni in personnel work for a number of years. He told me that around his plant there were a humber of unskilled jobs available almost every day. This company initiated the practice of em ploying laborers on a day by day basis and paid these laborers in the same manner. YH orioa This same man told me that not only raeS* the plan work out but that in the course of time some of their best employees began work for this company and were with the company for a number of years first coming through this prac tice. I contracted for some work recently and the paricular phase of this work demanded that the company have about twelve workers one day [fgr about two hours. When I saw all these em- Uow 4 loyees workin g on this particular day, I asked _ the contractor how he managed to hire so many hien for such a short period of time on a cer- 1 tain day. He, told me that there was a corner -Where all of the unskilled laborers congregated '■every morning and waited to be hired. I’ve -often wondered why among this crowd no one happens to know how to push a broom. GOING back to my new year’s resolution its really absured to get excited. When Atlanta want ed a Stadium the aid of Tech computers were employed. Now that we need an auditorium the problems connected with it seem to be taken in stride and yet Interstate 20, on this side of town, still lags behind ...one of the major arteries here has been made into a four lane with li terally inches to spare if four automobiles happen ed to be abrest at the same time...the reloca tion of a street out here now has a filling station being constructed in the path of the proposed route........,and, the streets are still dirty. Nothing is wrong need a few friends I with West End ,we just FORCES IN POLAND Your World And Mine BY GARY MACEOIN AUSTRIA. “We are enjoying in Poland a situa tion of perfect equilibrium of mutually irrecon cilable forces, an equilibrium that has every in dication of continuing indefinitely. It could hardly happen anywhere else, biff for us it is little less abnormal than most of our historical experience.’’ Such is the summing-up of a distinguished Polish writer whom I had the pleasure of meeting again, after several years, during a quick trip through Central Europe. For obvious reasons, I may not i- ,, dentify him. The irreconcilable forces are, of course, the Catho lic Church, which enjoys the loyal support of 80 per-cent of Poles, and the Communist Party, which can hardly count on one in five ,but which is in Poland to stay for as long as the world balance of terror continues. The Communists have worked hard to laicize the society and to promote atheism at a high cultural level. The most noticeable effect of their efforts, however, is an increase in religious prac tice, Attendance at Mass and reception of the sacraments is better than before the war, com paring favorably With percentages in Catholic countries of non-Communist Europe. Ninety per cent of the children enrolled in primary and se condary schools attend religious instruction in the parishes. Their school programs include Com munist propaganda, but most of the teachers are Catholics and go through the motions of present ing the courses in such a way as to inegate their purpose. Poland is this year about to celebrate the 1,000- year anniversary of events which marked both the introduction of Christianity and the birth of the nation, with the ceremonies focused ion the famous pilgrimage center of Our Lady Of Czes tochowa. Nothing could illustrate better the com plicated political and social pressures with which the Church and the Communist regime live, THE POLISH bishops, in Rome for the Council, issued invitations to the bishops df other countries, including Germany, to participate in the cere monies. Soundings were also made regarding a possible visit of the Pope to Czestochowa. The initiative offered definite benefits to the regime. The presence in Poland of delegations CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 OBSTACLES OUTLINED On Seeking Mutual Trust BY GERARD E. SHERRY LAST WEEK WE spoke of a meeting held in Rome towards the latter part of the fourth session of the Council attended by some 65 English-speak ing North Americans, including several bishops, priest experts and Protestant observers. The three-day conference discussed a question we are all faced with in the Post-Consiliar era, “how do we implement the Council at home?’’ We described the community aspects of the conference including its three part theme: the Church, probing interior renewal; the Churches, s t u dying rap- p r o a c hment among all Chris tians; and the Church in the World, Christian concern and re sponsibility about the world’s problems. I had a long discussion with one of the leading participants and he said their main reflections on the problems confronting the Church were as follows: FREEDOM is the hallmark of our responses to God and is demanded by the integrity of man. Fear and hostility are freedom’s greatest obstacles. Love and knowledge are freedom’s foundations. So: ♦what lines of communication must be set up at all levels in the Christian community to foster full dialogue? ♦can true freedom exist without mutual trust? ♦is not obedience a quality of freedom, a con sequence of responding to the will of God? ♦is freedom a threat to authority, or is not au thority a matter of fraternity rather than pa ternalism? ♦is a defensive attitude compatible with free dom? RISK is involved, but a willingness to face risk, to “go out on a limb with God,’’ was seen as central to the Christian mystery. So: ♦do we need to develop a theology of risk, a willingness to be insecure while still on tenta tive ground? ♦don’t experimentation, spontaneity, variety de velop our awareness? ♦are charisms not found in all persons? do we chance screening out the Holy Spirit when w e screen out certain people or certain ideas byrefusing to let them be tested in our Chris tian communities? ♦can we program renewal? STRUCTURES as we have them in the Church have not been totally successful. So: „ , *d£>»wejiged.to create new structures, new lines of communication, such as little councils in parishes and dioceses or other ways of giving the experience of involvement? ♦should not new structures be loose, tenta tive, so that they avoid the pitfalls of the past by being adaptable to new days and new problems? ♦would seminarians be better prepared for open communication if they had lived in smaller units, had greater contact with pastoral life, spent some of their training in other parts of the country or the world? PARISHES are now centers of the Christian community, but they also are often large, im personal. So: ♦should our concept of parish be re-evaluated — perhaps to be broken into smaller territorial and pastoral communities, bringing priests closer to the people and people closer to each other. ♦wouldn’t this at the same time use to the fullest the zeal and energies of younger priests? ♦should we also establish new kinds of commun ities, not geographical, but built around work, professional, interest groupings? Christ works in the world through people and their talents. It is necessary that the Christian community try to bring everyone along toward a common goal: all ranks in the Church, all de grees of association with the Church, all kinds of human talents, social levels, rich and poor. So: ♦are we wasting assets by not using the full talents of all, especially those of lesser rank: curates, young religious, non-organization lay people, according to the competence of each? ♦how can there be a free flow of communica tion between bishops and priests, pastors and assistants, priests, brothers, sisters, laity? ♦to what extent do we realize and show that all the People of God (laity, priests, bishops, religious) need one another? ♦how can the expression of mutual interdepen dence be increased? ♦do we recognize and profit by the idea that each person’s life — in work, family, culture, leisure -- is the apostolate? WORSHIP is the source and summit of Christian life. We asked: ♦is the Word of God read and preached and heard as well as it should be at Sunday Mass? ♦would our sense of liturgy become more com munal, more real, if we experimented with ideas such as “house Eucharists,” so that we recognize the holiness of each person, no matter what his work or his role in the Church, and thus lower barriers between lay men and women and the clergy? UNITY is sought, not for the consolation of Christians but as an aspect of the mission of Christ to the world. Drawing closer in accomplishing their mission, Christians will rediscover their unity in Christ. Therefore: ♦how can we develop an ecumenical spirituality based on a growing awareness of the fact and CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 REAPINGS AT RANDOM