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BULLETIN
ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
VOL. 5 NO. 32
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1967
Priest-Author Says He Cares
For ‘People’ Not ‘Catholics’
By DENNIS ABLE
*'I don’t care about Catho
lics,” said the man in the
Roman collar. “I care about
people.”
Speaking was Father James
Kavanaugh, author of "A Mod
ern Priest Looks at His Out
dated Church,” who is cur
rently on a publicity tour for
his publishers. His book, a
spokesman, said has sold
100,000 copies since June 20,
the largest two-monthsalesfig-
ure in the history of Simon
and Schuster.
”1 don’t believe in a God who
can damn a man eternally to
hell,” Kavanaugh told the At
lanta Press Club last week. ”1
could care less about whether
a man takes a drink or the state
permits gambling.”
The author said he was upset
by the Church’s "preoccupa
tion with sex,” adding hecould
no longer in conscience sit in a
confessional and tell "poor and
guilt-ridden women that they
can’t use the pill.”
The speaker said his book on
the church came in response to
thousands of sympathetic let
ters resulting from an, arti
cle, "I Am A Priest-I Want
To Marry," which was pub
lished anonymously in Saturday
Evening Post.
Kavanaugh said, despite the
fact that he has criticized celi
bacy, the Church's teaching on
birth control and prohibition
of the remarriage of divorcees
he has not been officially cen
sured by Church leaders,
In fact, he said he was given
a year’s leave of absence to
write his book and he corre
sponds frequently with his bish
op.
"Not
_# 99
exactly ‘cordially
yours’," Kavanaugh, "but we
do write.” He said the possi
bility of excommunication, how
ever, doesn’t bother him. "No
one can excommunicate me
from my God; I fear no adver
sary.”
"I can’t get too excited about
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 2)
7 PARTICIPATING DIOCESES
Catholic Congress
Is Set Oct. 12-14
Seven Southeastern Dioceses,
including Belmont Abbey, will
participate in the Catholic Con
gress ©n Worship Oct. 12, 13
and 14 in Greenville, S.C.
The purpose is to implement
the provisions of the Vatican II,
"Constitution on the Sacred Li
turgy” by holding a congress
every 18 months in one of the
diocese. This was established
by the Catholic bishops of the
seven dioceses, including Bel
mont Abbey, jointly in 1965. The
first was held in Charlotte,
N.C., in January 1966.
The congresses have an ecu
menical impact not only because
so many from other churches
attend, but also because so
many are concerned with the
decency and propriety of public
worship. The sessions are open
to the puhlic.
Delegates from each parish
in the dioceses of Miami, St.
Augustine, Savannah, Atlanta,
Charleston, Raleigh and Bel
mont Abbey are assigned as re
presentatives of their parish.
The theme of this year’s Con
gress is "O God, You Will Give
Us Life Again.”
Services and workshop ses
sions will be held in the Green
ville Memorial Auditorium and
the congress headquarters will
be in the Jack Tar Poinsett
Hotel.
Over ten thousand regis
tration forms, brochures and
hotel reservation cards have
been distributed throughout the
Southeastern province.
FATHER JAMES E. Groppi, adviser to the Milwaukee Youth Council of the
NAACP (center), participates with about 60 Negroes in protesting the shooting
of Clifford McKissick, a Negro youth, killed by police for allegedly throwing
a firebomb at a paint store. The demonstrators, some wearing "black power”
T-shirts, gathered in front of the dead boy’s home on Milwaukee's northside.
Father Groppi is an assistant at St. Boniface Catholic church, which has many
Negro parishioners. He is an active leader of Negroes involved in civil rights
work. (RNS PHOTO)
Catechism Rapped As ‘Un-American’
CHICAGO (NC)—"Some peo
ple do not like the Rev. (Mar
tin Luther) King. They say he
is a troublemaker, but, no mat
ter what some people may say,
he continues to tell everyone to
keep on seeking justice. Rev.
King is a brave Christian."
When Richard White and his
wife, Barbara, read that pass
age in a third grade catechism
used by one of their three child-.
ren at Chicago's Queen of Apos
tles school, they weren't inclin
ed to call Dr. King a trouble
maker, even though only a cou
ple of months before King had
led a series of civil rights
marches in the city.
Instead, they put the trouble
maker tag on the catechism’s
authors, Fathers Gferard Web
er and James Kilgallon of Chi
cago and Sister Mary O'Shaugh-
nessy of New Orleans.
That was last fall. Now, al
most a year later, the Whites’
annoyance has blown up into a
full-scale campaign by the
group White heads—Concerned
Parents—to have the catech
ism series thrown out of the
Chicago Catholic schools.
The series—published last
year by Benziger Brothers of
New York ancused in a number
of Catholic school systems—is
anti-American and anti-Catho-
lic, say the Whites.
To date, their protest has
resulted in the collection of
1,250 signatures on a petition
protesting use of the books; a
series of meetings with Bishop
William E. McManus and Fath
er Kilgallon; and requests that
the F.B.I. and Chicago Police
investigate the authors and the
Chicago archdiocese for sub
versive tendencies.
But the series, so far, re
mains on the book list for next
fall’s classes. Bishop McManus
said he is still thinking about it,
however, and will make a final
decision after talking with par
ents, teachers, and pastors.
The F.B.I. would notsaywhat
action, if any, is being taken.
The catechisms, which carry
the imprimatur of Auxiliary
Bishop Cletus F. O'Donnell of
Chicago, are used on an experi
mental basis in the third grade
of three schools. The sixth,
seventh, and eighth grade edi
tions are used in all Chicago
Catholic schools.
The books, said Bishop Mc
Manus, "apply religion to con
temporary events.” He said
he has received about 80 let
ters about the catechisms—
about evenly divided for and
against.
The Whites are against.
"We have no axe to grind on
the racial side,” said Mrs.
White in a telephone interview.
"We’re not racists and don’t
pretend to be.
"We are very happy that
Martin Luther King is in the
books because it brought out
attention towhatelseis in there.
"We feel that the books set
class against class. They down
grade any man of means. They
are anti-American and anti-
Catholic.
"We object to the fact that the
obligation of Mass is not stress
ed. That is the way Russia
took over Cuba—through the
Church and by doing away with
the obligation of Mass.”
Instead of stressing the Mass
primarily as an obligation, the
catechisms attempt to show its
value as a religious experience
and source of grace.
her husband objected to the use
of living persons as examples.
"I don’t think it necessary to
have pictures of living people
rather than our own saints,”
she said. "We learned without
it."
She also singled outforcriti-
cism:
—A picture of a smiling girl
in a college on the back cover
of the eighth-grade text. Her
upraised hand dominates the
foreground. Mrs. White called
the gesture a "Marxist salute,"
and said the hand was raised in
"defiance of God.”
—The teachers’ manual in
structions which ask the teach
ers to break their classes into
small groups to work at various
aspects of a textbook project.
"Dividing the children into cell
type groups is un-American,”
she said.
Mrs. White also said she and (CONTINUED ON PAGE 2)
FR. KAVANAUGH
An English Layman Examines Ecumenical Progress
BY MARY LACKIE
S Ecumenical dialogue in Eng
land remains "a bit artificial,”
said Alan Lawson, instructor
at St. Theodore’s Boys’ School,
Burnley, Lanchashire.
"The dialogues give the
churches a sense of security;
an imagined sense of progress
being made where progress
does not exist," Lawson said.
In a recent interview in At
lanta, Lawson reviewed a series
of articles in the Georgia Bul
letin on the Church in England
written by Desmond Fisher.
"In the main,” Lawson said,
"I would have to agree with
him."
Qualifying a statement by
Fisher that "it is a period of
strain in England,” Lawson
: : said, "It is a period of change,
which is not quite the same
thing. Suddenly the ecumenical
movement seems to have
brought the most disturbance.”
The North of England, with a
Catholic population of one-half
million is “traditional in its
thinking — more conservative
and much more loyal,” Lawson
said.
In this region, Bishop Hol
land of Salford is carrying out
liturgical reforms very quietly,
Lawson said, "But the Bishop
is dynamic, and very well-liked.
He tries to see every Catholic
in the archdiocese—and visited
our house~in his attempt to
explain personally the reforms
since Vatican II.”
Resistance to reform comes
with few exceptions, from the
priests, Lawson said. "They
have tried to be as conservative
as they can be. In some
parishes, the Mass might as
well be in Latin—the priests
mumble away as usual.*’
But, Lawson notes, "Where
reforms in the liturgy are prac
ticed in the north, there has
been an increase in communions
and a revived interest in the
faith.’ ’
"However,” he said, "we
don’t seem to have gone as far
in the Church renewal as I
observed at Mass at the
Cathedral of Christ the King.
I was much impressed by the
marvelous sense of partici
pation there in liturgical wor
ship,” Lawson said.
"We like to be neighborly
in the north,” said Lawson,
"and do participate in dia
logues with Protestant Chur
ches.” The students at St. The
odore's school attend "joint
Christian conferences dealing
with social and economic prob
lems,” Lawson said.
“I think this comm on interest
is bringing the younger gener
ation together, but for many of
the older ones, this is not true,”
he added. One reason for this
is that "North England Cath
olics are drawn mainly from
the working classes, and are
more reluctant to meet with
people of other faiths,” Lawson
said.
"Suddenly, since Vatican II',”
he said, "you find yourself
with a new area of freedom.
“Suddenly, since Vatican II, you find
yourself with a new area of freedom.
This involves for most people, making
decisions on their own bent, their own
initiative.
This involves for most people,
making decisions on their own
bent, their own initiative,”
Lawson said.
In contrast to the Catholic
attitude of the North are the
undoubtedly more sophisticated
Catholics in London and the
South,” Lawson said. "There
are so many bright young men
from the universities there.”
What was their purpose in
starting the magazine Slant?
Lawson was asked. "It seems
to me,” he answered,” that
they were catering to them
selves more than to the needs
of the people. They are very
radical in their views—they
went as far out as they could
and still remain Roman Cath
olics.”
Some of the views of Slant,
which Lawson calls "avant
garde thinking” include: legal
ization of birth control, mar
riage for priests, and the rein
statement of agape—the love
feast—a handling of bread and
wine by the congregation.”
"The members of Slant and
the Christian Marxists are not
limiting reforms to their own
community,” Lawson said. "I
think they are not so interested
in reforming the Church as they
are in abolishing the present
liturgy and introducing a com
pletely new one—a fundamental
change that would affect the
whole Church,” Lawson said.
"Naturally,” Lawson said,
"since Slant is most active in
London, Cardinal Heenan got
the brunt of the whole thing.”
. Lawson believes thatmostEng-
lish Catholics- agree with
Heenan.
"He is considered the spokes
man for the Church in England
by the large majority of
people, ” Lawson said, "Of
course, there is more im
patience among the young.”
Archbishop Murphy, like
Cardinal Heenan "is about the
Same in his moderate ap
proach,” Lawson said, “butnot
as academic; much more forth
right and this appeals to
people."
Lawson said Archbishop 1
Murphy’s conservative ap
proach appeals to many people,
"because he believes ‘you have
to stand firm against the pulling
down of all the barriers and
because he is a good speaker
and writer, he serves as a
rallying point—one of the most
conservative of the English
hierarchy.”
What has become of Father
Herbert McCabe, O.P.? "Mc
Cabe backed up Charles Eh vis’
criticism of the Church, saying
’it was plainly corrupt,’ ” Law-
son said, "but the magazine
was not widely read until the
Davis incident.”
"When the article appeared,
everyone ran out to get the
magazine. If you read thewhole
cohtext of the article by Father
McCabe,” Lawson said, "it
isn’t quite as dramatic. The
statement, that 'the Church is
quite plainly corrupt' was taken
out of context.”
The Charles Davis affair has
"died down”, Lawson com
mented. "Among Catholics as
a whole, it is gone and for
gotten. Many people who were
sympathetic to his cause in
the firstplacebecamedisgusted
with him when he married.”
Lawson disagrees with Fisher
that there is a "decline in re
ligious practice in England”.
He said, "At least this is not
true in the North.”
He agrees with Fisher’s sta
tistics that indicate "the Church
in England seems irrelevant to
most of the people. The main
cause for this development is
the rising material standard in
the country.’ ’
"The Church in England is
more social than it is in this
country,” said Lawson. "It
is also divided by class. One
of the big reasons that people
went to church was because
they could have a good time
there—and many of the people
were humanitarians rather than
Christians,” Lawson said.
The British Humanist As
sociation is growing and at
tracting some Catholics, said
Lawson. "They do not have re
ALAN Lawson, member qf the British Blackburn group touring
Atlanta this month visits with Miss Marsha Aughtry, left,
committee chairman, and his hostess, Mrs. John Templeton.
The Templeton family entertained the visitor as part of the
program sponsored by the Atlanta Committee for International
Visitors.
ligious meetings as such, but
meet to discuss morals and
ethics without religious em
phasis.”
What is the hope for ecu
menical understanding in Eng
land? Lawson said, "I think
there is a genuine interest to be
closer together, but at present,
it is a superficial desire.”
"I think it is important to
remember," Lawson said,
"that for 300 years the Roman
Catholics in England have been
a persecuted minority. So the
division lies not only on
religious. grounds and doc
trines, but on the social and
historical divisions. "These
divisions, Lawson stressed,
"are now forgotten, but the
cleavage is still there.”
"Although there is a spirit
of friendliness between the
Churches— the Anglican, the
’Free Churches' (Methodist,
Baptist, etc.), and the Roman
Catholic, thereis nofundamental
unity.”
This month the Churches in
England will hold an ecumenical
dialogue for the first time. "No
doubt the Church of England,
which started out as a ‘com
prehensive church’ believes it
will be comprehensive enough
to include our Church as well,”
"Lawson said.
He based this personal
opinion on the fact that, "a
•variety of articles have been
written by leading Anglican
churchmen stressing theCath-
olic, but reformed.” ■
Lawson said, "Authority has
come into question.” He re
ferred to the hippies; "The
mass ofpeoplewhowerelargely
content with things as they are
have come to realize that there
is more to life than the latest
car—I think this explains the
hippies. "It is a part of a
divine unrest that drives the
hippies—they are inspired by
the Holy Ghost, but the response
has no direction.”
And hippies are not to be
compared to the "mod’' crowd
on Carnaby Street, Lawson said,
"Carnby Street is interested in
setting fashions — the "mod”
group panders to the society
in which they live.”
Lawson is touringthecountry
with eight students; one of two
groups traveling under scholar
ships from the Thawaites
Brewery. In this country,
they are sponsored by the Ex
periment in International Living
and stay in the homes of mem
bers of the Atlanta Committee
of International Visitors. Law-
son is the guest of Mr. and Mrs.
John Templeton, members of
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal
Church.