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PAGE 4 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1966
of Atlanta
SERVING GEORGIA'S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Official Organ of the Archdiocese of Atlanta
Published Every Week at die Decatur DeKalb News
PUBLISHER- Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
CONSULTING EDITOR Rev. R. Donald Kieman ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rev. Leonard F. X. Mayhew
2699 Peachtree N. E.
P. O. Box 11667
Northside Station
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
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
Canada $5.00
Foreign $6.50
the opinions contained in these editorial columns are
the free expressions of free editors in a free Catholic press.
Emerging
The evidence of emergence
continues to proliferate. There
is hardly any news-value left
to the emergence of the long-
submerged layman. Everybody
takes it for granted and almost
everybody applauds it. The pro
mise it holds for the Church is
one of the most hopeful pheno
mena of the renewal.
Recent news contains signs of
the incipient emergence of an
other important group, the
priests who are assistant pas
tors in our churches. A group
of four hundred recently made
their problems, feelings and sug
gestions known to their Archbis
hop in Chicago. The Archdiocese
of Detroit was also the scene
of a similar happening.
We heartily endorse this new
development and see in it a great
hope for increased vigor in the
Church. The younger clergy who
are the assistants in parishes
form an important segment of the
people of God. They are close
1966 Civil ■
We wish to add our voice to
that of leaders of all religious
groups in support of the propos
ed Civil Rights Act of 1966.
Catholic, Jewish and Protestant
leaders and groups have already
appeared before Congress to urge
its passage. The task of obtain
ing enactment of the new law will
be complicated by the fact that
this is an election year and there
will be enormous pressure on
Congress to quit before fall for
campaigning. This means that
enlightened public opinion must
make itself heard in support of
the measure.
The four major features of
the proposed bill relate directly
to urgent causes and the pro
motion of justice and peace. Non
discrimination in the selection of
juries is an essential element of
civilized government by law. It
will mean a major step away
from the threat of substituting
force and violence for equality
before the law for all. Addition
al measures to facilitate deseg
regation of public schools and
other public facilities are clearly
needed in various areas, north
and south. Protection from per-
Open
Stores in Atlanta which sell
alcoholic beverages had to close
two days ago because of the vot
ing. This rule is reminiscent of
the days of the wild West, when
law and order did not prevail
and voters might be victimized
without protection. It seems in
consistent now, especially when
Piedmont
The thirteenth annual art fes
tival was held in Piedmont
Park. This carries the role of
one of Atlanta’s loveliest parks
back to the days when it was
the sits of the Cotton Exposition.
Providing a background for the
annual art festival is one of the
Assistants
to the front line of the Church’s
apostolate. Their zeal and their
reverence for their superiors are
unquestioned but, all too often,
they are not listened to any more
than the laity and the Sisters
used to be.
Young priests, whose seminary
education has been contemporary
with the Scriptural, liturgical and
theological revival endorsed by
the Council, have much to teach
their elders. Many contend that
the cut-off for membership in this
only partially mis-named “new
breed’’ is at ten years of ordi
nation. Things have changed so
rapidly in the past ten years that
the only available means for busy
priests and lay people to learn
what lies behind the Church’s
evolution is ter listen to those
who have been educated most re
cently.
We welcome the emergence of
the younger priest and the as
sistant pastor and stand ready to
listen to what he has to say.
Rights Act
sonal violence for those who work
for civil rights come close to be
ing the very basis of all our civ'
ll freedoms. Finally, the prohi
bition of discrimination in the
sale and renting of housing will
mean that we have come to grips
with what is the key issue in the
entire process of achieving social
• justice..
In our society, law is not an
oppressive force. It is a source
of true liberation. As with the
public accommodation provision,
the new measure will not be
merely a coercion to the resis
tant minority, but moreso an aid
to the great majority who sin
cerely desire to do what is just.
They will be enabled to follow
their generous instincts, unhind
ered by the fear that the compe
tition of the less scrupulous will
penalize them.
We second the argument of the
religious leaders against a
“pause” in civil rights legis
lation: “Democracy must end
discrimination, or discrimina
tion may well spell the end of
our democracy,”
Shops
we recognize merchants’
freedom to open on Sundays and
any other holidays, if they desire.
Drug stores, for example, may
sell every describable kind of
sundry as well as pharmaceuti
cals. Perhaps, they will want to
include spirits in their stocks,
if the present inconsistency con
tinues.
Art Fete
many services of the community
which Piedmont Park gives. The
seamier side of its reputation is
to some degree balanced in this
way. We congratulate and thank
all those who work hard to give
Atlanta the Piedmont Park Fes
tival each year,
GEORGIA PINES
Herb Jenkins
Rev. R. Donald Kieman
I was at a dinner recently and while a group
of us were standing around a tall, neat man en
tered the house through the back door. There was
a terrible cloudburst and he decided to come in
the back door because It was closest to the drive
way. Without any fanfare he removed his rain
coat, took off his hat and joined the crowd. He
went from group to group, strangers though they
were, and acted as if they were life long friends.
Finally he went up to one lady, extended his hand
said, “I'm Herbert Jenkins.” “Our Chief of Po
lice’*, she exclaimed. “Yes'*, he said. And then
this lady said, “Why Chief Jenkins, I've seen
your picture in the paper so many times and I
had pictured you as an old man. I just thought
that those pictures were taken by the newspaper
years ago and they newer got around to getting
a new one**.
This is a small incident but I think it bears
out the personality of the Police Chief of “our
town'*. He is indeed a veteran officer but his youth
fulness extends not only to his appearance but
goes also to his outlook on life.
What prompts my writing this
article today is the recent po
licy change of the Atlanta Po
lice Department whereby a su
perior officer is placed in com
mand regardless of his color.
In effect it does away with the
seperate negro division.
For a Southern city this was
bold step. . .but a progressive step. It is in keep
ing with the Jenkins “forward step**. Chief Jen
kins is no Johnny-come-lately to fairness and
justice. When he becamejphief in February of 1947
a whole new policy of prom otions-on-m erit was
established. One of his first, if not the first,
promotion he made was made without bias to re
ligious profession.
Ten years ago, back in 1956, when a champion
of racial justice was not the most popular side
to be on, Chief Jenkins promoted two outstanding
police officers to the detective department. This
might not have caused any comment at all, ex
cept for the fact that these two police officers
happened to be negros.
Proof of their ability was further demonstrated
when in March of 1961, Chief Jenkins promoted
one of these officers to the rank of Sergeant.
(Since then this officer has been made a Lieu
tenant.) Of course, the usual charges were hurled
at Jenkins: politics, pressures etc. But the in
dividual merits of the men chosen plus the element
of time have proven Jenkins to be right; and as
a result the Police Department has benefited
and Atlanta has progressed.
“A prophet is not without honor. . . “How
true this has been in the case of Chief Jenkins.
While being virtually ignored by the Peace Of
ficers Association of Georgia, he has been ac
corded' one of the ’highest hoaots^ of ‘ the - 'police
- profession wheri-twO years agb he was elected
" President of the International’ Association of
Chiefs of Police.
But Jenkins has not ignored his own. Several
small towns have benefited from his devotion to
police work. At the training school regularly
operated by the Atlanta Police Department several
small towns have sent their officers to be trained
in Atlanta. Again, he has sent specialists of his
department to towns and cities whenever they have
been requested,
Chief Jenkins has always felt that an untrained
officer is worse than having no officer at all.
For this reason Atlanta policemen have been sent
to the FBI Academy in Washington, to the Uni
versity of Louisville Traffic School, and to North
western while at home an in-service program is
continually operated.
All of this might and could set a pattern of
leadership. I would even say that bold leader
ship is desperately needed. You just can’t police
20th. century “crooks”, with 19th. century ideas.
For example, a police academy is now being built
in this state. To this writer’s knowledge a faculty
has not even been chosen. Will it really be a
training school for policemen from all over Geor
gia, or will it be a glorified training school
operated for and by the State Patrol? Again, if
capable police officers are so badly needed why
is our own Department of Public Safety devoid
of Negro officers in a state which has a high
precentage of negro citizens?
YOUR WORLD AND MTNF.
Good Faith?...In Latin America
by Gary MacEoin
I sense a belated but for me none the less
gratifying awakening of concern about Latin
America. The nuclear mushroom over China
and the political quagmire cum slaughter in Viet
nam hold the headlines. There is nevertheless
a growth of realization that Latin America is our
first concern, and that our blundering there has
brought us to the edge of disaster.
One issue separating the Latin Americans and
ourselves is, I believe, more basic than all the
others. It is that they have lost
confidence in the United States.
They do not believe that we
live up to our undertakings.
And they do not believe that
we really want to see a deve
lopment of their economies
which would give them a status
of equality with us and a con
trol over their destinies simi
lar to that enjoyed by the de
veloped nations.
The latest and most { formal of many L
American expressions of. this belief was the
signation en bloc of the Nine Wise Men, a gi
of Latin America’s most distinguished ec<
mists selected in the early days of the Alliance
for Progress to ensure that economic rather than
political considerations determined the allocation
of Alliance aid.
The concept of the Alliance is seldom recall
ed. It was a declaration of solidarity, an ack
nowledgement that we on this continent are one
family, and that our family resources are avai
lable for the needs of the family. It was a partial
acceptance of the teaching on the duties of pro
perty stated by St. Thomas Aquinas, by Pope
Leo XII, by Pope Pius XI, by the Vatican Coun--
cil in its constitution on the Church in the Mo
dern World, and again this month by Pope Paul.
It started with an acceptance of the basic ec
onomic reality that one member would carry the
major burden, because the GNP of the United
States, its annual production of goods and ser
vices, is seven times that of all the others com
bined. Even with the best will in the world, these
others could not divert enough from current con
sumption to supply their capital needs except by
creating a Chinese style slave system.
So unequal a partnership is difficult, yet that
is what we undertook, realizing that all our wealth
could not buy us normality while the tension of
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
16YEARS
Missedl The
Last Roundup
BY GERARD E. SHERRY
Last week I missed my first Catholic Press
Convention in 16 years. My duties as an editor
of a daily newspaper make it hard to take a
week off, even for such an important event
as that held In San Francisco.
I was more than sorry, though, after reading
the text of the principal address of Msgr. John
Tracy Ellis, the
most outstand-
ing of our con
temporary Ca
tholic histor-
REAPINGS
AT
ians. Only a his
torian of his
mettle could
have come up
with a hew theme
with which to ad-
RANDOM
dress Catholic editors. From previous exper
ience one would have thought there was little
else to say.
We have been exhorted to respect authority,
nurture freedom, promote responsibility, honor
theology, avoid sensationalism, work in the com
munity, distrust amateur theologians, suspect
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, ignore Liberal Ca
tholic thought, stop going faster than the Coun
cil Fathers, and finally, of course, avoid sin.
Yet Msgr. Ellis came up with a natural and
obvious: read a little history. Alas, it has been
my contention for some time that the trouble
with most Catholic editors is that they don’t read
at all. To be sure they’ll read their daily news
papers, weekly magazines etc. But you can count
on the fingers of one hand the number that get
hold of a good book, current or not, and enjoy
or digest it.
I did a little private survey a couple of years
back and asked 12 of my then fellow diocesan
editors how many books they had read within
a 12 month period. Those questioned included
priests and laymen. Four could admit to five or
more; six to no more than three; and two said
one. What type of books I Six said mostly fic
tion; three said politics, and the other three de
tective yams. Not one had read a current history,
and ope admitted that the last history he had read
was a prescribed text in college.
A lack of study of history results in a lack
of a sense of history. Yet, Msgr. Ellis aptly
summarizes our situation in a quote from Bar
bara Ward. “In our free society we are abolish
ing the past, not by re-writing it or forcefully
supressing it, but simply by losing all interest
in it.” And this, according to Miss Ward is “as
fatal for a society as it is for a man to lose his
memory.”
Msgr. Ellis told the Catholic press that its
'presenf 'prbblems were^not unlike that of our
predecessors of tfafe 19th century. Yet, we have'
"a progressive Council behind us, and all the
lessons of history to fall back on. There has
always been a danger of extremism in the Catho
lic press, as in the same manner there always
has been indifference. They’re not insurmountable
obstacles, yet they do require effort and much
study.
Msgr. Ellis, brought up one major problem
facing us all. The bridging of the gap between the
laity and the clergy. At last year’s annual con
vention of the National Council of Catholic Men,
I brought up the obvious gap between the Bishops
and the laity, but this is slowly being sorted out.
The Vatican Council was *a work of the Holy
Spirit and many bishops are acting as if they
believed it. Even though the Council ended only
five months ago, most of the American hierarchy
have moved with surpising speed to implement
its decisions. There are still a few “diehards”
who suspect all change and don’t want to reform,
but they cannot impede the work begun. While
these few bishops are not leading in the renewal
in their dioceses, neither are they putting a stop
to it at the grass roots level.
But the clergy-laity relationship is still far
from a happy one. And it’s hard to pinpoint what
exactly is the trouble. Most pastors will swear
that everything is going along fine. Their people
are accepting the changes in the Liturgy; some
are establishing parish lay boards; and some are
recognizing that there is a world outside the
parish compound. Most pastors have been aware
of this for quite a long time, but it has been a
confined world. The civic structure is still, for
many, an evil part of the world, with politics
social action and secular education among the
corruptions to be avoided.
It is in these areas that the laity has needed
the most assistance; and it is here that they have
needed pulpit and other instruction. Yet they have
hardly ever received it. Mostly because pastors,
rightly or wrongly, were spending their time es
tablishing schools and insular parochial societies.
The homily of liturgical reform is playing its
part, although I must admit that approaching the
homily to fit modern day needs, it is an art few
priests have yet developed.
For instance, I attended Mass in a church in
a certain state capital on Good Shepherd Sunday.
And the priest started the homily with the state
ment that Christ playing the role of the Good
Shepherd assumes one of his most attractive roles.
It sounded as if we were being told about a stroll
ing player rather than God. And the charity, con
cern; compassion, nay love, of the Good Shep
herd, never come through in the almost 30
minutes of real old-fashioned preaching.
I give this example not as the norm, but as
the still plentiful pulpit menu given to a liaty
yearning for teaching applicable to life, their life,
with it joys and sorrows, • fears and bravery.
The laity want their pastors to lead them not as
children, but as men, educated and competent
to face the dangers of the world and to over
come them. Admittedly the laity is impatient.
But this is not harmful to the Church, as long as
that impatience is tempered with understanding.
We have our work cut out for us, in bridging
this gap. Some parishes have already succeeded
to a large degree. The problem is that it is not
yet commonplace. Until it is, the tensions will
remain pronounced.