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BULLETIN, THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1968
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AHCHIMOI fSK fl» *»RWV, (.IMMJ4- '1 MH Mil*
The Georgia Bulletin
Chris Eckl
The Rev. R. Donald Kiernan
Managing Editor £
Consulting Editor^
Member of the Catholic Press Association jj.S.A. $5.00
2699. Peachtree N.E. and subscriber t o N.C.W.C. News Service
P.O.Box 11667 Telephone 261-1281 Canada $5.00
Northside Station Second Class Permit at Atlanta. Ga. ^
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Published Every Week at the Decatur - DeKalb News
__ jbe opinions contained in these editorial columns are —
__ the free expressions of free editors in a free Catholic press. —
The Churches’ Duty
A recent Gallup poll says that 53 per cent of persons interviewed
believed that churches should avoid involvement in political and
social issues.
Why? Everyone has heard the answers before, but they are worth
repeating:
-The first duty of the churches is to comfort the individual.
-Ministers and priests do not have the kind of background and
training needed to deal with social and political problems. (If applied
nationally, this standard would eliminate more office holders than
clergymen).
-Churches should concentrate on raising the levels of religious
belief and practice.
The results showed a change from a 1967 poll which found that 47
per cent felt the churches should be involved while 44 per cent did
not. Nine per cent had no opinion.
The poll also showed that MORE Catholics than Protestants think
the churches should not become involved. MORE men than women
hold this view.
There was one encouraging fact found in the poll-young adults
(between the ages of 21-29) disagreed with their elders. Forty-nine
per cent favored involvement while 47 per cent were opposed. The
other 4 per cent had no opinion.
The drop in the percentage of persons who favored involvement
from 1957 to 1968 may discourage and frighten already hesitant
churches. However, we submit, the increase in disapproval about
involvement may mean the churches are doing a better job and are
jarring the conscience of more people. They - we - don’t like it.
New Law, New Choice
Formation of the Atlanta Metropolitan Committee on Equal
Opportunity in Housing could greatly benefit the city and its
surrounding areas.
To our knowledge, no city in America has honestly tackled or
thought about the problem until it was too late. Atlanta, once again,
has the opportunity to avoid the mistakes of other cities if its elected
officials, churches, real estate agents and private citizens will take
positive action.
There is one disappointing aspect in the announcement of the
committee’s formation. Only one real estate group—a Negro one—is
listed among the 50 sponsors.
IT IS imperative that the major real estate firms join with the
committee in dialogue, in providing information and destroying
myths.
The new open-housing law places Atlanta’s real estate firms in a
position similar to that of the motel and restaurant owners when the
public accommodations law was passed several years ago.
Owners of restaurants and motels in Atlanta-with one noisy,
notorious exception-accepted the challenge of the law and preserved
their reputations and prosperity.
A NEW LAW is on the books. Atlanta can either accept it in a
Cooperative spirit or become a sorry example of a city incapable of
change.
' ~ '—GEORGIA PINES
Sunday Mass At 1 A M.
,By R. Donald Kiernan ""
In some cities it is called a “Printer’s Mass”;
on the eastern seaboard it is known as the
“Fisherman’s Mass”; while in many places it is
just Mass said at a convenient hour. One thing,
however, about this age of renewal, it is an age
of experimentation. By that I mean that
departures from ancient customs are not
viewed with scandal but
rather with genuine
interest and curiosity.
I have always
wondered 'if Atlanta
needed an early monling
Mass something like the
so-called Printer’s Mass
and so, after consultation
with the other priests here
at Saint Anthony’s, we decided to give it a six
week’s experimentation. Now I might add that
after the first week we were more than pleased
with the attendance at the 1 a.m. service.
My reasons for thinking that a 1 a.m. Mass
has become a necessity in this growing
metropolis are varied and many. First, Atlanta
has become a transportation center for the
southeast. With one of the busiest airports in
the country and the crossroads for three
interstate highways less than one mile away an
early morning’ Mass would not only be a
convenience to a traveler but also fulfill his or
her obligation to attend Mass on Sunday with
the minimum of delay.
Then there are the “Night people,” people
whose jobs keep them working up to or near
midnight, like waiters, nurses, firemen, and
policemen.
The advent of big-time sports here in
Atlanta has made this city the best known city
in the south. Every weekend hotels and motels
are crowded to capacity and the people visiting
Atlanta often times would like to fulfill their
obligation of attending Mass yet at the same
time, since they are on vacation, break their
routine of early rising nd take a late sleep.
At quarter-to-one Sunday morning I
thought that maybe my experiment was going
to prove a failure. The only one in church was
a single man. About five minutes to one the
crowd began to appear and even two altar-boys
showed up.
It was a rather impressive sight with some
men wearing white dinner jackets, women in
evening gowns, a law enforcement officer with
his gun on his side and in his uniform, a nurse
in her immaculate white and some young men
obviously on their way home from a date. As
the enteTsnce hymn began all sang out and I
could not but help wish that I could have
corralled some of those singers into joining the
parish choir.
One man stopped me after the Mass and
said how appreciative he was to find an early
morning Mass in the city. He was a visitor and
was stopping at a motel on the north side of
town. He told me that it only took him four
minutes to drive from the Marriott Motel to
Saint Anthony’s by-way-of the Interstate 20.
In this day and age when Mass is being said
in the homes, special Masses for young people,
folk-Masses, etc. in a way this Mass at 1 a.m.
has a “special interest” too. I noticed that the
participation in the responses, the singing, and
the number who received Holy Communion
was unusually good. Then one might have
thought that the people would have been so
tired that the -minute Mass was over they
would have disappeared. Quite the contrary. In
the very well lighted parking lot across the
street there were some people stil talking there
long after I had gone to bed. I toyed with the
thought that if the experiment proves
successful enough possibly we could have a
coffee- Klach in the church hall and provide
some fellowship even at that early morning
hour.
I hope that the experiment will prove itself
not only successful but a real need. Only time
will tell. In the meantime we’ll wait and see
what develops next Sunday at 1 a.m.
WITHERING HEIGHTS
(Ed. Note: Father Noel C. Burtenshaw,
archdiocesan chancellor, wrote this tongue-
in-cheek account of his job for a newsletter
published by seminarians who are studying for
the Archdiocese of Atlanta).
It would seemthatChancellors have come the
full circle. The once proud dilettante of
Church affairs and the shyster of Ecclesiastical
ping-pong has returned to the place of his
humble beginnings. The lowly spring was first
discovered in Canon No. 372 which designated
him diocesan paperweight for the archives.
But the roaring cataract could not be quelled
and he soon rose to an enviable “purple”
patch, a mere ante-room to a jeweled position.
However, Vatican II came along, the Bastille
was stormed and he found himself relegated to
the position of receiving what Damon Runyon
would call “a medium hello” from those who
once paid him court.
So Father Chancellor has returned to his
beloved, fireproof archives. But he is no longer
the prelate at ease. He lives a life of fear. His
dreams of advancement are gone and have been
replaced by nightmares of abiding sabotage.
Suppose, just suppose his “Ordinary” friend
appoints him to the Pastoral Council.
Instantaneous catastrophe. Or suppose, just
suppose, that the Senate of Priests demands
that the Chancery produce a Code of Ethics.
That would be the knell announcing that they
really had arrived to “bury and not praise
Caesar.” -
The question now arises, “Is there any gleam
of hope?” Until recently there was a glimmer
of light on the horizon. Like the young lady
with bad breath the motto donned was “Never
fear.” But recent news from the CIA
(Chancery Intelligence Association) shows that
all is indeed lost. The last hope was, of course,
the younger generation. Surely, these, the
newly informed would question the scurrilous
rumors of pomposity in the curia. But this
hope has received the same treatment Custer
did at the Little Big Horn. Word has it that all
seminarians are now anxiously adding another
subject to their curriculum. They are taking
Braille. This enables them to read an infamous
publication, recently published only in that
form, after lights out. This book, with an
introduction by someone called Kavanaugh, is
entitled “Intimate Chancery Revelations” or
“Another Nuremburg?”
So all seems lost. Perhaps Chancellors in the
traditions of the IRA, the Haganah and the
Viet Cong (creeping ecumenism) will fight on.
In the meantime, they keep the memories of a
glorious past, along with the Chancery seal.
And those words of Mr. Churchill uttered in
behalf of Chancellors everywhere during
the Golden Age, will ever be remembered:
“Never-never was so much, owed by so
many, to so few.”
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