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ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA
SERVING GEORGIA’S' 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
VOL. 6, NO. 48
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1968
Holidays Included
ChurchCouncilOf Georgia
Backs School Prayer Ban
ATLANTA (NC) - The Georgia Council of Churches gave its
approval to the U. S. Supreme Court decision banning prayer in
public schools, and raised objection to the ways in which religious
holidays are observed in the schools.
FARMINGTON, W. VA. 1 —Mrs. Frank Matish clutches her ro
sary as she wipes away a tear while attending 1 a news con
ference (Nov. 26) about the 78 miners trapped since Nov. 19
in Consolidation Coal Company’s mine at nearby Manning-
ton. Mrs. Matish’s husband of 31 years, Frank Matish, is
among those trapped. (NC Photos)
In N.Y.
Catholics Invited
To Join Council
NEW YORK (NC) The Protestant Council of the City of New
York has dropped the word “Protestant” from its name in an
ecumenical move aimed at encouraging Roman Catholic membership
on both diocesan levels.
Beginning Jan. 1, the
25-year-old organization headed
by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale,
will be known as the Council of
Churches of the City of New
York. The change in name came
as part of a unanimously
approved new constitution which
provides for greater participation
in council policy and
decision-making by member
churches on the local level.
The new constitution,
approved at a meeting of the
council’s general assembly, also
opens the way to membership for
Church Community Associations,
or local “clusters” of Protestant
congregations and Catholic
parishes. A few of these are
already in existence; others are in
the process of formation.
Eventually, council officials
hope, the archdiocese of New
York and the diocese of
Brooklyn will be formally
received into the council as
denominational members. A
spokesman for the New York
archdiocese said, however, that
affiliation with the council must
await the completion of studies
now being made in
Catholic-Protestant cooperation
by divisions of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops
in the National Council of-
Churches.
In some areas, Catholic
parishes and dioceses have joined
state or city church councils.
Meanwhile Archbishop
Terence J. Cooke of New York
became the first high-ranking
Catholic prelate to participate in
a service of worship at the
Interchurch Center, headquarters
of the National Council and
(Continued On Page 2)
The ecumenical body,
representing 11 major
denominations in Georgia, called
for government neutrality an
matters of religious belief, and
further proposed that
baccalaureate services not be held
under public school auspices.
The council, in a resolution
approved at its annual meeting,
declared its opposition “to the
use of the power or influence of
government. to promote any
religious beliefs, even those held
in common by most citizens.”
The Rev. Robert Thomason of
the Wesley Foundation,
Milledgeville, Ga., a member of
the Georgia Study Committee on
Atlanta Area Jaycee Empty
Stocking Fund now 42 years old
December 8th 1968 will mark the
42nd anniversary of the Empty
Stocking Fund. The fund began
in 1927 by the old Atlanta
Georgian newspaper to provide
clothing, toys, and other goodies
for a small number of needy
children a total of $1,000 was
collected. But Christmas this year
will come to some 23,000 needy
children in the greater Atlanta
area because of the Empty
Stocking Fund Drive. The goal
for this year’s drive is $75,000.
Last year more than $71,000 was
raised to purchase toys for some
18,000 underprivileged children.
Seventeen Atlanta area Jaycee
chapters and hundreds of local
college students and high school
ROTC units will conduct the Day
Long Drive. Sunday, December
8th;
Church-State Relationship which
drafted the resolution, said that
in approving the resolution the
Georgia Council of Churches
“comes out on the same side as
the Supreme Court decision.”
“But,” he explained, “we did so
for different reasons. Theirs were
legal and ours were theological.”
The Methodist minister said
the commission which drafted
the report studied the question
for 10 months. The committee
included Baptists, Jews and
Catholics who are not members
of the council.
The ministers and laymen
disapproved of “any government
action of which the primary
Special editions of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution (Green
Sheet) will be sold by these
canvassers from door-to-door and
on street corners all over the city
on drive day. All monies go to
purchase toys for these needy
children. Distribution of the toys
will be handled from a Jaycee
operated store at 554 Peachtree
Street, N.E. Parents of needy
children will have a large
selection of new toys to choose
from at the store. The store will
be open from December 9 th
through December 18th. Eligible
families are selected from names
sent . in to the Jaycees by
Churches and Individuals, and the
Fulton and DeKalb county
Welfare Departments.
REMEMBER TC)YS INSTEAD
OF TEARS
purpose or result is to promote
belief or disbelief in particular
religious principles.
Asserting that the
“maintenance and furtherance of
religion” are the responsibilities
of the church, the synagogue and
the home, “and not of the public
school or of any other institution
of government,” the Georgia
church representatives warned
that government support of
religion is inevitably a form of
coercion and is “inneffective and
detrimental.”
The Rev. Mr. Thomason said
the committee is seeking support
from members of the Roman
Catholic, Jewish and Baptist
faiths by circulating the
resolution among them. He noted
that public school prayer or
baccalaureate services could
offend members of the Roman
Catholic or Jewish faith, even
though the Protestant Christian
services were generally agreeable
to the majority of parents and
students.
“Inevitably, there are
relations between church and
state,” he said, “but it is not the
business of government to hold
religious services.”
Priest’s
Father
Dies
Father Robert Kinast’s father
died on Sunday, December 1. He
had been ill for some time. The
funeral will take place on
Thursday, December 5, 10 a.m.
at St. George’s Church,
Pittsburgh, Pa. Father Kinast is
an assistant at Most Blessed
Sacrament Church.
Editor To
Speak
The Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception Holy Name Society
will be priviledged to hear one of
the most outstanding priests in
the Diocese of Atlanta at the
next Holy Communion breakfast,
Sunday, December 8th. Father
Donald A. Kiernan, Rector of St.
Jude’s Catholic Church and
Editor of the North Georgia
Bulletin will be speaking in the
Church of his first assignment in
Atlanta.
An invitation is extended to
all former members of the
Society and the Shrine, to join
with the Holy Name Society, at
the 9:15 Mass and later the
Communion breakfast in the
newly renovated Social Hall.
SISTER MARIA ROSA (right) runs an orphans’ home at Tegu
cigalpa, Honduras, caring for about 145 children. To the
left of Sister Maria Rosa is Norman W. Powell, a Peace
Corps worker. The assistant at left is unidentified. (NC
Empty Stocking Fund
Now 42 Years Old
