Newspaper Page Text
TWO CHILDREN show Mrs. Dot Cummins how to play the accordion.
They Help Poor Help Themselves
BY MARY LACKIE
The Volunteer Task F orCe |
offers a challenge to Atlantans >
to step over the line and get
involved—helping the poor to
help themselves.
"This is where the thin line
in volunteer work lies—you can ;
give things—but when you give |
yourself andyourtime, itmakes .
a difference in your life and in !
the lives of others," said Mrs.
Frances Hynesi of Christ the
King parish, who describes her
self as "just a volunteer."?!
"Men and women who have
the time and talents have never
been able to use them in this
area because we have been se
parated from the poor. We have
to come together first—and this
is a painful process. We are
frustrated by that first insight
into the deep evils of our so
ciety," said Mrs. Eleanor
Bockman, a member of the task,
force program.
"Never has there been a
time when we have had so
many volunteers working with
professionals," she said. “This
is where the Church-oriented
people in today's society show
not only concern but their sin
cere attempts to alleviate the
problems of the poor.”
The Volunteer Task Force
draws its members from all
areas of the city—there are no
age limits, educational re
quirements or entrance fees,
said Mrs. Elinor Metzger, pro
gram director. "The members
must have a deep interest in
people and respect the dignity
of those with whom they
work."
Mrs. Spalding J. Schroder,
a volunteer in a day care cen
ter said, "We are all so en
thusiastic we wonder why in
the world more people don't
get involved. The supervision
is wonderful, and the program
gives you a whole new out
look—you're not so opiniona
ted; you understand people
better."
“My first reaction was that
I will spread myself too thin,
that I shouldn’t leave my own
neighborhood because there is
so much to be done here," said
Mrs. Mary Rauton. She reco
gnized this "negative response
covered a deep fear of getting
hooked in a committment I
couldn't live up to."
Like many volunteers, Mrs.
Rauton found that the expe
rience "led to a deeper rea
lity—I had always lived in one
section of town and knew little
about other people in other
environments." With a friend,
Mrs. Alex W. Smith, the wom
en planned a music program
two days a week at a day care
center for pre-school child
ren.
After only a few hours a
week, she came to realize that
her participation was only “a
token commitment." She said
"The first day the children sat
around us and sang their favo
rite song,” "Jesus Loves Me",
and 1 remembered my children
at home and thought, who is
poorer, these or my own? I
had never spent this much time
with my own little children just
singing and enjoying them and
letting them enjoy me," Mrs.
Rauton said.
“I didn’t want to talk any
more," said Mrs. Joseph Gat
ins, "I wanted to do some
thing." She enrolled in the
task force program and works
with Mrs. Jane Wilkes of St.
Philip’s Cathedral in a home
management project for wom
en in the Summerhill-Mechan-
icsville area. In preparation
for her volunteer job, Mrs.
Gatins brought home surplus
food, and using recipes pro
vided by the program, she
"tried out menus on my own
family. ■ I will be the gourmet
of the poverty program,” she
said. Like many volunteers, she
is enthusiastic about the train
ing course, and anxious to be
gin work.
"It's a terrific way to work
with people of other faiths,"
said Mrs. Mimi Fenlon, a vol
unteer since the first training
program ended last fall. She
is working in a day care center
at Bethelem Baptist church with
Mrs. Dot Commins of The Tem
ple under the supervision of
Miss Emma Pace. "Working
in the centers you have an op
portunity to see firsthand the
(CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO)
Pope Reasserts
Church Authority
To Teach, Define
VATICAN CITY (RNS)—The
Second Vatican Council cannot
"be considered as a liberation
from ancient dogmas and their
related anathemas," Pope Paul
VI told the congregation at a
general audience in St. Peter’s
Basilica.
The Pope’s address, which
he associated with his recent
invitation to the celebration of
a special "Year of Faith" be
ginning June 29, strongly de
fended the right of the Roman
Catholic Church to define
dogma, teach it and enforce
unity of belief within its mem
bership.
He said that although these
points were not made the sub
ject of a specific document of
Vatican II, they are a basic
assumption running throughout
the Council’s statements and
frequently cited or implied.
Pope Paul said that these
rights of the Church are being
denied, in the name of "con
science" by some persons who
wish to see "no intermediary"
imposing "a special discipline"
between the individual and the
Holy Spirit.
Such views would drive the
Faith into "division” he said.
"The recent Council did not
provide a real treatise as such
on the Faith, as indeed other
Councils did," he said. "This
supposed ortiission has been
related by some persons to one
of the points in the recent
Council’s program, that,
namely, of not entering upon
any! new, solemn, dogmatic de
finitions.
"And thus it could not be seen
what function was fulfilled by a
teaching office which defines it
and keeps it safeguarded. Thus
it is thought that the Faith ought
to be free from any external
bonds and have a distinct, inter- ,
nal deciphering instrument, the
conscience alone. Hence among
men there could exist different
conceptions and even a different
content."
Pope Paul said that he did
"not wish to think that there
is any desire to arrive at these
conclusions."
'The
without
express
lack an
sis.
Faith would remain
creeds to define and
it," he said. "It would
authoritative cateche-
TTh
This has caused some
people to suspect that dogmatic
definitions might be obsolete
forms of Catholic teaching and
that therefore the Council pould
be considered as a liberation
from ancient dogmas and their
related anathemas. Faith, it is
said, is not the dogmas verbally
considered. The latter consist
in formulae which try to define
and to enclose immense and
inexhaustible truths ...
“It is observed also that
the Faith is given to us by
the Holy Spirit and so it would
seem that no intermediary ought
to impose upon it a special
discipline.
BULLETIN
ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA
SERVING GEORGIA’S 71
NORTHERN COUNTIES
VOL. 5, NO. 11
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1967,
"It would no longer be a
source of unity and one Faith,
but of division. It would lack
the guides established by Christ
in the incontestable teaching
office of the Church, which
watches over its expressions,
promotes its teaching and dif
fusion, defends its integrity;
which nourishes the faithful and
is due their witness."
Such views cannot be attri
buted to the Council, he said,
because, if it "did not treat
expressly of the Faith, it speaks
of it on every page, acknowl
edges its vital and supernatural
character and supposes it as
integral and strong.”
To demonstrate that the
Council "builds its doctrine"
on a clearly-held idea of the
Church "as a definer and pre
server of the Faith, he cited
a number of Council themes:
"the necessary connection be
tween the teaching Church and
the Faith; the sense of Faith
which, under the guidance oi
the sacred teaching office, ani
mates the whole people of God;
the due purity of the Faith,
asserted actually in connection
with the ecumenical dialogue;
the work of the bishops in
teaching the truths of the Faith;
the meeting ground of Faith and
reason in one holy truth on the
plane of higher studies; the new
synthesis, which is seen to be
possible and magnificent, be
tween the ancient Faith and
modern culture, andso on."
Funerals
To Have
New Form
Pastors of churches in the
archdiocese have' been asked
to conduct all funerals i accor
ding to the new form beginning
March 19 until further notice.
The pastors were asked to
explain fully the meaning of the
new rite at Sunday Masses and
in parish bulletins.
The study of the new funeral
rite is being carried out in
about 50 dioceses in the United
States, including Atlanta. The
changes stress the new pasto
ral approach to death as an en
trance to new life instead of a
temporal, sad separation. They
are based on Article 81 of the
new liturgical constitution
which says, "The rite for the
burial of the dead should evi
dence more clearly the paschal
character of Christ's death..."
Although the sequence, Dies
Irae (Day of Wrath) will be op
tional, it is urged that it be
omitted because it conveys "an
unduly fearsome concept of
death."
Some of the principal chan
ges and practices are: a much
wider and more appropriate
choice of spiritual lessons and
psalms; the division of the rite
into three "stations," at the fu
neral parlor or home (farewell),
at the church (the Eucharist),
at the cemetery' (final com-
mital, the entrance to union
with the Risen Christ);
A high degree of participa-
tion—vernacular texts, invoca
tions in litany form, offertory
procession, and wider recep
tion of the Holy Eucharist; in
clusion of family, friends and
others, present in the message
of Christian faith. White vest
ments may be used, instead of
black, to symbolize joy and hope
in the mystery. The optional use
of the Alleluia in the Introit and
Gradual is encouraged.
TEN DAYS before the Feast of St. Patrick (March 17) a heavy
snowfall left this statue of Ireland's patron saint draped with
a white mantle. The snow gave the figure the appearance of
wearing a "cappa magna,” or great cape, proper for a bishop.
The heroic size figure I s on th e grounds of St. John’s Seminary
in the Brighton district of Boston. In Atlanta snow won’t be
a problem to the many parties and celebrations honoring this
feast day. (See story Page 7) (RNS Photo)
Athens, Griffin Schools
Will Drop Two Grades
REP. ADAM Clayton Powell, who has been barred from his seat in Congress, delivers a sermon
to Seventh-day Adventist students from Takoma Park, Md., while they were visiting Bimini, the
Bahamas. Topic of his sermon was "When a man falls, he shall rise again.” Rep. Powell is mini
ster of the Abyssinian Baptist church in New York's Harlem. He was at his island retreat in Bi
mini while the House of Representatives, was deciding his future as a Congressman. (RNS Photo)
Catholic elementary schools
at Athens and Griffin will drop
their seventh and eighth grades
at the end of the present school
year.
The requests to eliminate the
grades at St. Joseph's in Athens
and Sacred Heart in Griffin
have been approved by the Arch
diocesan Board of Education and
Archbishop Hallinan.
The parish board of educa
tion at St. Joseph's has an
nounced that it will discon
tinue the two grades, reducing
the parish school to kindergar
ten and six grades. The board
will also request the mother
provincial of the Missionary
Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart
of Jesus to assign a nun as a
full-time director of religious
education for the parish.
The board said the seventh
and eighth grades are in a
combined class and with the
opening of two newer junior
high schools many parents have
transferred their children after
they have completed the sixth
grade. Sister Rosaire, princi
pal of St. Joseph’s and a mem
ber of the Archdiocesan Board
of Education, favored eliminat
ing the two grades.
In Griffin, Father Raymond
Govern. C.SS.R. said the se
venth and eighth grades are
being dropped because of a lack
of pupils. "A second reason is
our children would not be eli
gible for the accelerated pro
grams at the junior high school
unless they enroll at the seven
th and eighth grade levels,"
he said.
After the change, Sacred
Heart will have kindergarten
and six grades. "Next year we
will have four nuns to teach
six grades instead of eight
grades," Father Govern said.
CHANGES
Masses Can Now Feature
Riches Found In Bible
New liturgical changes, in
cluding a new series of Bibli
cal readings for weekday Mass
es, have been announced by
Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan,
chairman of the Bishops'Com
mittee on the Liturgy.
"The option now granted to
all priests of the Archdiocese
of Atlanta to use various scrip
tural readings in the Mass is
both an immediate need, and a
significant liturgical choice,"
the archbishop said.
“Those laymen who take part
in Mass daily have had to lis
ten to the same Sunday epistle
and gospel all week. This be
comes repetitious and monoton
ous to the point of obstructing
what the Council Fathers de
creed—a fresh, changing use of
the riches of the Bible.
But there is another point
thatmust not gooverlooked today,
the archbishop said. "We have
fine new translations, like the
Jerusalem Bible, appearing,
and there will be more. The
Church is urging its priests to
adopt a flexibility that is quite
unfamiliar to our generation of
Catholics. That it will enrich
our biblical experience can
hardly be questioned."
***
See. Page 8 for additional re
marks on the new instructions
on music.
Responses from the postcon-
ciliar liturgical Consilium,
headed by Cardinal Lercaro of
Bologna, were received by
Archbishop John F. Dearden of
Detroit,, president of the Na
tional Conference of Catholic
Bishops. They permit the
chanting or loud recitation of
the canon of the Mass, the op
tional omission of the lengthy
sequence, Dies Irae, in funeral
Masses, the recitation of the
creed (instead of .chanting) in
sung Masses, and similar chan
ges.
These developments stem
from decisions taken last No
vember by the'/ U. S. Confer
ence of Bishops and submitted
to the Holy See. No announce
ment was made concerning oth
er major proposals adopted by
the American bishops, in par
ticular the request for the use
of the vernacular in the euchar-
istic prayer or canon of the
Mass. It was announced, how
ever, that the permission to
experiment with the Ordinary of
the Mass, recently revised by
the postconciliar liturgical
Abortion Bill
Dies In Senate
The Judiciary Committee of
the Georgia Senate has shelved
until next year a controversial
bill to liberalize abortion laws
in the state.
Action by the committee had
the effect of killing the bill dur
ing the 1967 session. Earlier,
the House Judiciary Commit
tee shelved a medical "con
sent" bill which Archbishop
Paul J. Hallinan said could lead
to abortion and sterilization.
The Senate committee heard
from Father Raymond Govern
C.SS.R,, pastor of Sacred Heart
Church, Griffin, who said the
House-passed abortion bill was
"unacceptable to the Christian
conscience, the Hippocratic
Oath or the principles of Amer
ican society."
The Councils of Catholic Men
and Women also opposed the
bills.
Consilium, has been postponed
for the present.
Archbishop Hallinan empha
sized that the most important
of the decisions approved and
announced thus far is the week
day lectionary. It is intended
to provide variety jn selections
from the Bible read at Mass
and to promote the preaching of
brief homilies at weekday
Masses.
'The weekday readings may
be introduced in each diocese,”
the Archbishop explained, “in
accord with the pastoral judg
meijt of the individual bishop.
The Bishops' Committee will
distribute booklets containing
the list of readings through dio
cesan liturgical commissions,
beginning March 20, so that the
program may begin, wherever
approved by the local bishop,
on April 3. Over 3500 copies
of the booklet have been order
ed.
"For use in these weekday
readings only, five translations
of the Bible have been approv
ed: Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine, Douai-Rheims-Chal-
loner, Knox, Revised Standard
Version (Catholic Edition), Je
rusalem Bible. No new liturgi
cal book or lectionary will be
needed: the reader at Mass
Will simply mark the text in
one of the approved versions of
the Bible beforehand, when he
is preparing the reading.
‘The liturgical changes an
nounced at this time—or pro
posed by the bishops last No
vember—-do not affect books or
booklets , for congregational
use."
The complete list of chang
es includes the following:
(1) supplementary optional
readings for weekday Masses;
(CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO)
Louis Erbs Is Selected
New Liturgy Chairman
Louis Erbs, one of the most
progressive members of the
Archdiocesan Liturgy Commis
sion last year, has been appoin
ted chairman of the new com
mission, Archbishop Paul J.
Hallinan announced.
Erbs, a member of Our Lady
of Assumption parish, will be
the first lay chairman of the
commission. Father Henry
Gracz, assistant at St. Joseph’s
in Athens, is priest-secretary.
The archbishop said through
Erbs and Father Gracz, the
Pastoral Council, headed by Ja
mes W. Call!son, will have the
services of the liturgists.
Other members of the Liturgy
Catholic Schools
Registration Set
Testing and registration for
students now attending public
schools, who wish to enter a
diocesan Catholic high school
next year, will be held Satur
day, March 25, at 9 a.m.
Those interested should call
whichever school they wish to
enter for a reservation.
Commission are Dr. William
Thompson, professor of sculp
ture at the University of Geor
gia; Dr. Joseph Wilber; Mrs.
Paul Traina; Sister Louis Mary
R.S.M. of St. Joseph’s Infir
mary; Sister Mary de Montfort
G.N.S.H. of Immaculate Heart
of Mary; three pastors—Fa-
thers John McDonough, Euse
bius J. Beltran, Ellis DePriest;
two assistants—Fathers Co-
nald Foust and Matthew Rob
bins.
"Atlanta’s liturgical leader
ship is reflected in this mem
bership," the archbishop said.
"We look to them to be a body
of i resources! on this subject,
activators of good programs of
parish worship; and conductors
of the new experiments."
A new liturgical directory
for all, the study of the sam
ples of the international Eng
lish text, and guiding the "new
funeral rite" are the imme
diate tasks on the agenda.
Archbishop Hallinan also an
nounced a new Commission on
Music with Father DePriest
as moderator. It will be a sub-
committtee under the Liturgy
Commission and will develop
an art-sculpture - architecture
subcommittee at a later date.
Members of the subcommit
tee are Hamilton Smith, Robert
Krick, Mrs. Frances Edwards,
Keith Langworthy and Father
Methodius O.C.S.
Members of the Liturgical
Commission will be available
soon to speak at parish meet
ings, and aid pastors and as
sistants with programs that will
deepen and vitalize the parish
liturgy.
LOUIS ERBS