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4 GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1967
The Victim
BULLET
ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan
Chris Eckl
The Rev. R. Donald Kiernan
Publisher
Managing Editor
Consulting Editor
»*7sF’
2699 Peachtree N. E.
P. 0. 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
Published Every Week at the Decatur-DeKalb News
The opinions contained in these editorial columns are
the free expressions of free editors in a free Catholic press.
The Schools-Again
Since the Archdiocese of
Atlanta is taking its first
steps toward an archdioce
san school board, we think
the two speeches reported
on Page 1 should be of in
terest to readers.
We thought both of the
speeches were stimulating,
but find it difficult to accept
all of the conclusions. Phra
ses like “Our only salvation
is in the Catholic schools”
and ,# If we believe in the ur
gency of a Catholic educa
tion, we will find a way of
providing that education”
may be stirring, but not al
together to the point.
Msgr. O’Neil D’Armour
who gave a very good out
line on boards of education
said at the conclusion of his
talk that “Given our condi
tions, there just is no way
of guiding youth to a Chris
tian philosophy and theology
of life outside the formal
framework of the school.
Christian truth can be made
part of life only if it is
•embodied iirthe total s-chool
/ experience.*' g‘|AOa'td^e4i®J§cal*
classes while necessary in
many circumstances remain
inadequate even where much
zeal and money is poured
into them.”
We think it is a little too
early to judge whether
schools of religion will do
the job until the money and
zeal have been poured into
them. They are still looked
upon with suspicion in many
areas and in many quarters.
These comments should
not be construed as a call
for the end of Catholic
schools, but ringing state
ments in their defense sound
like the party line.
Msgr.D’Armour said in the
opening part of his speech
that' the Catholic education
has reached a critical point
and if it is to continue it is
necessary that major deci
sions be made by the Ca
tholic community. These de
cisions have not been made
and. until they are it is too
early to say Catholic schools
should be phased out or that
they are our only salva
tion.
Pope Paul VI and Soviet
President Nikolai Podgorny
have met in the first papal
audience granted to a Com
munist of such high rank.
No one would predict that
aqy ^onqrefe agreements.^,
would come iifrom the trieet- A'
ing, but in light of Stalin
and the past it has to be
called historic.
At times Pope Paul must
wonder if his many pleas
for peace and a cease-fire
in Vietnam are just wast
ed words. But he continues
his untiring pleas and it is
good that his voice and other
voices remind us that war
is a failure of civilization.
,GEORGIA PINES-
A Cardinal’s Visit
— By R. Donald Kiernan
FR. KIERNAN
AN outstanding research feature of a
proposed ecumenical research institute
at St. John’s Abbey and University in
Collegeville, Minn,, will be the microfilm
of manuscripts obtained in the monaste
ries of Europe. The collection is housed
in this new library at the university de
signed by the Hungarian-born architect
Marcel Breuer. The collection contains
over 5,000 reels encompassing more than
35,000 different manuscriptcodices.Some
3,000 reels will be added to the collection
each year. Also in the collection are
10,000 frames of illuminated manuscripts
in color. The project may take as long
as 20 years to complete.
It Went Slap-Slap
the stewar-
to the little
By Garry Wills
Recently I sat down on a plane next to
a baggy-eyed man in uniform. It turned out
he was on the last leg of thewearying trip
from Vietnam, after a hitch there as a
helicopter pilot. He talked somnambulis
tically, surfacing toward something like
enthusiasm only when
dess passed out “wings”
girls: he took one
for his daughter,
whom he had not
seen in a year.
His overarching
memory, from that
underwater-unreal
year, was of Mud.
Being inescapably
filthy for months on WILLS
end -- he argued — is a deep though un-
sensational ordeal, one that subtly under
mines one’s very humanity. His second
most vivid memory was of po
verty -- the shrieking want of all the
Vietnamese about him, especially that of
the children. “I think they are glad to
have us there, just to get the dollars
that drop from our pockets. It’s a hell
of a way to send welfare.” I was sur
prised that his first thoughts were not
of battle; or had he not seen fire? "Oh
yes, my copter was hit 12 times or so.
It went slap-slap on the side, and you
fly on wondering whether you have a
plane under you. But those are the spe
cial moments. You can live with them--
if you live through them. It’s the rest
of life — the s'o-called ‘normal’ life
— that really gets to you.”
"The . trouble with the war is that
we are supposed to win it without kill
ing anybody. Charlie, you see, hasn’t
been let in on the rules. He’s a busy
little killer. We are supposed to “pa-
It isn’t very often that a cardinal visits
Georgia. After all, there are only four ir*
the whole country. The occasion of a car
dinal’s visit has always been connected
, with some major event taking place ei
ther with the Church or the community.
The visit last week of Cardinal Suenens
from Belgium marked the fourth time
in my memory that a cardinal has been,.
in Atlanta. EVefttS/isg, -it* probably‘vfa^.
one 3 of the most important of these oc-
^dhsibns. As the Atlanta Journal put it in
an editorial: it was the,first time in the
history of Emory University that an ho-I
norary degree had been presented to a 1
member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
Aside from that it was a tangible result
of the spirit of ecumenism that prevails ‘
in the community. Cardinal Suenens-was •
one of the presidents of the Second Vati
can Council and he came as no stranger
because hundreds of people “knew” him
through his books and the newspaper ac- i
counts of "the man” as the council was ;
in progress.
And Cardinal
Suenens came as no
stranger to Atlanta
either. I learned the
other night that he
had read no fewer
than 20 books about
places, persons,
and thoughts relat
ing to Atlanta. It
was no wonder then that he was able to
say at the breakfast table the other morn-
ing after he had met many of the Atlanta
priests, "1 feel thatl really know Atlanta”. '
I was especially proud while talkingtoone
of the members of the cardinal's party
when he said, "Traveling around the .
country, Father, I've never seen such spiw
rit asthe priests and the laity of Atlanta
have.”
It was back in 1950, some 16 years :>
ago when 1 had last seen a cardinal. The
late Archbishop O’Hara had just been
expelled from Roumania by the Com
munists. His arrival home conincided ;
with the celebration of the 100th anniver- !
sary of the Diocese of Savannah. In re
cognition of the outstanding work which i
Archbishop O’Hara had done for the Va-
cify’ him. O.K. We get a call from some 1
area. We load up the copter with artil- ; 1
lery and men; fly to the spot, lower fel
lows with power saws down our ladders, j
and they create a clearing for us. Dowtj j
we go; unload; shoot Charlie back into
his holes. That’s that. We’ve ’pacified’
him. So off we fly, all packed up again,
and Charlie pops out of his holes. We’re
right back where we started. Well, thank
God I can forget it -- for a while. 1
intend to soak for about seven days in
a hot tub.”
I ASKED him more about the poverty.
“We like the kids, and they like us.
So their parents send them out to beg
what they can beg and steal whatever
they can’t. No one cares. They need
it so bad. One day I went into Saigon
and was surprised to see a pretty girl
in a starched white dress coming out
, to us with all the dirty ragamuffins. She
was about two years did. I tried to talk
to her, and a woman rushed right out to
me: 'Do you want to buy her?' she asked.
Saying no was the hardest thing I had to
do over there.”
ANOTHER VIEWPOINT
The Word Of God
Is Common Ground
REV. MR. BUCK
By Raymond Buck
The growing ecumenical movement
of our time is a great blessing from God.
For a churchman it is most pleasant and
gratifying to be able to live and to act in an
atmosphere of cordiality and increasing
exchange between the various branches of
the church.
We must not be
deluded, however,
into thinking that we
have arrived. We
haven’t. The ecu
menical movement
is necessary pre
cisely because we
are separated and
because there are
differences in teaching and practice which
divide us. To ignore these differences
would be to betray the ecumenical move
ment, God has; given us the meeting ground
upon which tp confer with each other in
love and witn a desire to understand. To
be less than serious in identifying the dif
ferences and less than committed to an
honest attempt at removing the scandal
of division would be to denigrate a most
precious and timely blessing of God,
In the discussions held on the national
level between representatives Of the Ro
man Catholic Church and the Lutheran
Church, broad agreement has been reach
ed. This shows that it is possible, even
though the areas covered by the dis
cussions were limited. Subjects discuss
ed thus far included the teachings of the
Nicene Creed and the significance of the
sacrament of Holy Baptism.
So far, so good! But there has never
been, to my knowledge, any serious di
vision in these matters, since the three
ecumenical creeds (the Apostles’, Ni
cene, and Athanasian) have been accep
ted and subscribed in and by both chur
ches.
These creeds, however, have nothing
really tOv,say on those matters which
finally came to issue in the sixteenth
century. The Reformation brought to light
and dealt with questions which still pla
gue the church.
What of the primacy of the pope, for
example? What is the relative position
of the Sacred Scriptures over against ec
clesiastical tradition? What, or where,
is the source of authority in the church?
Is the ministry of the evangelical catho
lic churches invalid because of the ab
sence of the "apostolic succession”?
What of the medieval doctrine of the
Mass — sacrifice, or sacrament, or
both? Is celibacy imposed upon the clergy
supportable from the Scriptures?
These and other questions like them
are given varying answers, and the an
swers which we give still divide us. Nor
are these questions remote from life,
as is held by some who would make
short shrift of all things doctrinal. As
there can be no tree without roots, so
there can be no church without doc-
tine. Our Lord, Himself, placed upon
His apostles the obligation of “teach
ing them to observe all things what
soever I have commanded you”. And
it was in the fulfillment of this teach
ing obligation that He gave the pro
mise, "Lo I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world”.
In spite of appearances to the con
trary, the situation is not hopeless, and
the day of reconciliation need not be
centuries in the future. We desperately
‘ need a common ground for the continua
tion of the discussion referred to above.
I, personally, am much encouraged by the
renewed interest and activity in Biblical
studies in all quarters of the church today.
It might well be that the questions raised
by the study of the Scriptures in the six
teenth century will be given common an
swers as a result of the Biblical studies
of the twentieth century. Surely no better
common ground can be found than the
Word of God, which is our common pos
session.
■ The Rev. Mr. Buck is pastor of the Luthe
ran Church of the Ascension.
tican, Cardinal Tisserant, the prefect
of the Sacred Congregation of the Orien
tal Rite, came to Georgia and presided
at this occasion.
Cardinal Aggaganian the present pre
fect of the Congregation of the Propaga
tion of the Faith was here back in 1954.
However, it was by accident. An airplane
be yvas traveling .,qn .haji £ n unexpected
delay in flight and, the airlines phoned
the Immaculate Conception rectory. A
hurried delegation went out to the air
port with some Armenians from around
Atlanta and we showed him a bit of
"Southern hospitality”. Atlanta police
facilitated our getting around Atlanta to
see as many things as possible in a short
time. The.Immaculate Conception Church
has just been renovated and this was
the highlight of the cardinal's quick tour.
Cardinal Spellman has been here too
in his capacity as the military vicar for
the Armed Forces. A policeman who had
been assigned to escort the Carindal
around town fell off his motorcycle. When
the cardinal's driver stopped the car,
Cardinal Spellman was the first man out
of the car to assist the officer. Today,
that same officer proudly displays a letter
he received from the cardinal who thank
ed him for his "services above and be
yond the call of duty.”
I guess that the first cardinal to ever
visit Atlanta was Cardinal Dougherty of
Philadelphia. The late cardinal came on
the occasion of the dedication of the Ca
thedral of Christ the King. Catholics were
not too numerous in those days. The story
goes that lawyer Estes Doremus was the
chairman of the hospitality committee on
that occasion. He went to a hotel to make
reservations for the cardinal and after
the necessary arrangements had been
made the clerk inquired if the cardinal's
wife would be accompanying him!
As Atlanta grows we can expect to
see more and more important personages
here in our community both as visitors
and in official capacities. But one thing,
Atlanta, no matter how big it gets, will
never fail in its history and reputation of
genuine southern hospitality.
We were about to land. I thanked him
for what he had been doing for us this
last year, then watched him carom slee
pily down the aisle under the weight of
his dufflebag. His pretty Filipino wifewas
waiting for him, and his daughter — to
whom he gave the toy "stewardess wings.”
She was about two years old.
Drive Opens
BONN, Germany (NC)—A campaign of
information aimed at stressing the im
portance and value of Catholic schools
has been initiated by Lorenz Cardinal Jae
ger of Paderborn.
The cardinal's program has been under
taken in the face of threats to Catholic
schools which Church authorities see in
current attempts by various state go
vernments of Germany to establish non-
denominational Christian schools as the
sole type of state-supported education.
Firing Cannons
In Press Month
, — A** =>U Aiiw Ji
By Chris.Eekl,' u ma r $
.alii sooi (mw.ufcisvdqaJa.iefc
February is Catholic Press Month, a
time of the year when many editors roll
out their cannons and hit their readers
with unceasing barrages on why they
should read their diocesan newspapers.
Some of them strongly hint that you are
ignorant if you don’t read their publica
tions, and I’ve heard sermons implying
that the fires of hell await those who don’t
read their diocesan newspapers.
I don’t subscribe to these.theories, but
I do think that a diocesan newspaper has
several important roles.
One of its roles is to try and clarify
or expand upon stories printed in the
secular press. An example: a wire ser
vice ran a story saying that the Holy
See had banned jazz masses. It was not
accurate. The Bulletin story explained
that the Holy See had deplored UNAUTHO
RIZED liturgical experiments, particular
ly those coupling celebration of Mass with
“family eucharistic banquets.” A spokes
man did deplore "wordly” music, but
declined to specify what kind of music
was meant.
This story had strong local implica
tions. Was the Holy See talking about the
Mass-in-the-homes program that has been '
done in the archdiocese? Would they end?
The Bulletin reported the answer. Arch
bishop Hallinan said in a statement that
the Mass-in-the-homes program would
not end and that the "almost incredible”
abuses noted in the story were not part
of the custom of the archdiocese.
This example should not be taken
as criticism - of the wire service. The
best newsmen blow stories, and I have
a hard time myself trying to decipher
some of those pronouncements from
Rome.
Another function is to print stories
that are of interest to Catholics which
don’t appear in the secular press. There
are a lot of them. I don't think it would
be immodest to point out that the Bulle
tin was the only paper in the Atlanta
area to be given an “in-depth” report
on why Charles Davis left the Church.
The daily newspapers carried sufficient
stories on his departure, but neither
the papers nor most of their readers
were interested in a blow-by-blow ac
count. I felt many Catholics-—priests,
nuns and laymen—would be interested
in his reasoning so I ran the interview.
The readers were interested; they’ve
told us so.
There is a great deal of criticism
that diocesan newspapers are simply
“house organs,” and it is difficult not
to agree with many of the comments.
True freedom, is not only an issue
in the Catholic press, but in the secu
lar press as well. I think the situa
tion is slowly improving in the Catholic
''press. The publishers (bishops) are be
coming more aware that the difficulties
of the Church should be reported. The
Church is paying the price right now
for having uninformed, docile members.
There are still many problems in the
Catholic press One of them is financial,
but I won’t dwell on it because that’s
always part of the CatholicPress Month
barrage.
However the Church’s attitude^rather
the attitude of high-ranking men of the
Church) toward the press is worth a
comment or two.
I don’t think many of them understand
the efforts of newsmen to report the
facts. Many of them are too quick to
charge the press with “irresponsibility”.
These are irresponsible newsmen, but
I think that most of the mistakes news
men make are honest ones.
This lack of understanding is reflect
ed in the Second Vatican Council’s Decree
on Communications. The decree was un
inspired. Mercifully, it was short.
What I am trying to do in the Bulletin
is to inform and stimulate its readers,
to report news of importance in the arch
diocese and to say my two cents worth.
I don’t claim to be infallible. If you dis
agree with the paper’s content, write a
letter-to-the editor. This establishes dia
logue.
Though the paper is listed as the official
organ of the archdiocese, I think it is one
of the most "unofficial” official Catholic
newspapers. Because of this I think the
Synod’s statment that the Georgia Bulletin
teaches “straight Catholic doctrine” is
somewhat amusing. In its generosity, the
Synod may have been a little rash. I look
at the Bulletinas a newspaper that triesto
report what seems to be the truth and
hopes that what has been reported is the
truth.
Cathedral Burns
MEXICO CITY (NC)—An early morn
ing fire (Jan. 18) destroyed a large part
of the interior of the four-centuries-old
cathedral here.
The bejeweled and gold-covered Altar
of Forgiveness, 16th century paintings,
murals, statues and other-treasure s were
destroyed.
The stone edifice, largest Catholic
cathedral in Latin America, is located
at the Zocalo, Mexico City's main plaza.