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Vol. 7 No. 41
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20,1969
—
$5 Per Year
I
Dear
Reader
BY HARRY MURPHY
Will the Church of the
future be like this?:
John Layman thinks
priests should be allowed to
say Mass without vestments.
He talks it over with his parish
council and the members
agree with him.
Other parish councils in
the archdiocese consider the
question and a majority also
approve.
The priests and sisters
senates agree and
representatives of the three
groups make the archbiship
aware of their action.
He thinks the idea has
merit and takes along the
group representatives with
him to the National Council
of Catholic Bishops (NCCB)
meeting to present their case.
A majority of the bishops
approve also and their
representative pleads the case
at the Synod in Rome.
The Synod okays the
proposal and presente it to
the Pope, who gives the
go-ahead.
Within a year after he
made his proposal, Mr.
Layman is attending a Mass
celebrated sans vestments.
Such celebrating isn’t
necessarily advocated here,
but is just used as an example
of the type decision-makings
toward which the Church is
slowly moving.
John Cardinal Dearden of
Detroit, NCCB chairman,
expressed it this way in
summing of the last Synod:
“ .. .for the future, the
exercise of authority is going
to be marked by greater
participation of many more
people on every level. That is
the important thing coming
from this Synod for us in
America and for all the
world.”
We should be preparing for
this great day.
Few parishes in the
Atlanta Archdiocese have
effective parish councils. The
Archdiocesanpastoral council
is still drifting aimlessly.
Only the priests and
possibly the sisters appear
anywhere near ready to
participate fully in shared
responsibility.
Father Patrick O’Malley of
Chicago, president of the
National Federation of
Priest’s Councils, expressed to
the NCCB his group’s feelings
this way:
“We as priests are asking
for a share not only in the
implementing of programs for
the good of the Church but in
the planning and decision
making for that Church.
“We alone are not the
Church; neither are the
bishops by themselves.
Together the total Church
faces the problems; together
the total Church must have a
voice in the resolutions of
those problems. In effect, we
are asking that the first steps
be taken to form a national
policy making board which
will involve as much as is
possible the total Church.”
As one Atlanta priest
expressed it, “We hope to get
this decision-making power
for ouselves and then for the
laity.”
Idealistically, it shouldn’t
be done in this order. The
laity should be brought in at
the very beginning to help lay
the foundation for this
national board.
But in practice, who can
(Continued on Page 8)
Archbishop I ACTION PACKED_ WEEK
BY JOHN R. SULLIVAN
WASHINGTON (NC) - In
the days before the Vatican
council, when the U.S.
bishops called themselves the
National Catholic Welfare
Conference and they met in
Caldwell Hall of Catholic
Unversity far from downtown
Washington, few people knew
they were there and fewer
still knocked at their doors.
Four years after the end of
the council, the bishops held
the 1969 Fall meeting of \
their reorganized National
Conference of Catholic
Bishops in a downtown hotel.
It seemed that everybody
knew they were there, and
everybody was knocking at
the door.
Some got in.
And while the dialogue
and confrontation were going
on the bishops took positive
steps to assist minorities
toward self-determination
and to provide the Church
with modem means to make
decisions and settle disputes.^
They also bottled the old
wine of celibacy in a new,
4,800-word supporting
statement, but narrowly
divided in favor of releasing
the statement, rather than
retaining it as a private
“resource” text.
On balance, said John
Cardinal Dearden of Detroit,
president of the conference,
it was a “very fruitful”
meeting.
“We dealt with some key
issues openly and, I think,
successfully.”
Many who observed the
meeting were ready to agree.
The bishops spent an
entire day discussing race and
poverty in workshop sessions.
And out of the sessions came
a commitment to raise $50
million for a “Crusade against
Poverty.”
u.s.
Key
The National Conference
of Catholic Bishops reelected
Archbishop Thomas
Donnellan of Atlanta to a
one-year term as chairman of
the Bishops’ Liaison
Committee with Conferences
of Major Superiors of
Religious Men.
Archbishop Donnellan also
serves on the Roman Curia as
a member of the
Congregation for Religious.
Anti-War
Hedging
Discussed
Renamed
SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. The oldest
building in downtown Atlanta is located at 48 Hunter Street,
S.W. (Van Buren Colley Photo)
Centennial Of
Shrine Nov. 22
Events marking the One ,
Hundredth Anniversary of
the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception will include a
concelebrated Mass at the
Shrine at 6 p.m. on
November 22, followed by a
banquet and ball at the
Dinkler-Plaza Hotel at 8 P.M.
Principal Concelebrant of
the Mass will be the Most
Reverend Thomas A.
Donnellan, Archbiship of
Atlanta. The Other
concelebrants include:
Reverend Leonard A. Kelley,
O.F.M., pastor from 1958 to
1964; Right Reverend Patrick
J. O’Connor, pastor from
1956 to 1958; Very Reverend
Lawrence Schmuhl, S.M.,
Superior of the Marist
Fathers, and Reverend Arthur
D. Murray, O.F.M., who has
been pastor of the parish
since 1964. The Mass will
begin with a processional at
5:45 P.M.
held in the International
Room.
The Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception is the
oldest building in downtown
Atlanta. The centennial
anniversary booklet includes
the early history of Atlanta
with the history of the orgin
and development of
Immaculate Conception
parish. Pictures printed in the
booklet include photographs
from the ninteenth century,
going back as far as 1855.
The first written records
of the Atlanta Catholic
congregation begin in 1846
with missionary priests,
mostly from Augusta and
(Continued on Page 2)
NEW YORK (NC) -
Christianity began hedging on
its anti-war stance when the
Roman Emperor Constantine
brought Church and State
closer together, according to
a pamphlet issued here by
The Christophers, a
movement concerned with
individual initiatives in raising
the standards of public life.
Written by Joseph J.
Fahey, who is on the faculty
of the Department of
Religious Studies at
Manhattan College here, the
pamphlet explains that when
Constantine recognized
Christianity as the official
religion of the empire, “The
Church became an institution
closely linked with the civil
authority, although it was
never wholly identified with
it.
“ As siich, Christianity
attempted to develop an
application of the law of love
that permitted legitimate
defense of the innocent
against unjust aggression.”
This caused a dilemma for
Christian thinkers who sought
“to reconcile the
fundamental dilemma
between love and violence,”
Fahey writes.
He explains that the early
Christians who embraced
non-violence tended to enter
monasteries and that those
remaining in society gradually
espoused the principles of the
“just war” theory.
Augustine, who “believed
(Continued on Page 8)
CONFRONTATION— The Rev. Douglas Moore of the Washinton Black United Front, a federation
of 16 black organizations in the National Capital area, reads a list of demands he sought to place
before the bishops of the U.S. at their semi-annual meeting, Nov. 12. His demands were received
by Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans, chairman of the bishop’s communications
department. (NC Photos)
1 Mountain Ecumenisml
NEWS BRIEFS
Grape Strike
Bishops Met
Issues Openly
The Choral Guild of
Atlanta, under the direction
of Don. C. Robinson will
provide the music.
Representatives from
other churches who will be
participating in the
celebration include Dr.
Randolph Taylor of Central
Presbyterian Church, Dr.
Kenneth Jones of Trinity
Methodist Church, Dr.
Russell H. Dilday Jr. of
Second Ponce de Leon
Baptist Church, Dean Charles
Child of The Cathedral of St.
Phillip.
For the banquet and ball
at the Dinkler-Flaza Hotel
ante-bellum costumes are
optional. The banquet will be
FATHER ARTHUR D.
MURRAY, O.F.M.
PASTOR
This article by Bert O. Tucker,
associate editor of the Christian
Index, published by the Georgia
Baptist Convention, appeared in
the Nov. 16 edition.
Churchmen from a
16-county Georgia area
known for conservatism have
united in an interdenomina
tional alliance to fight
poverty, involving both
Baptiste and Catholics among
the five participating
denominations.
“Mission: Concern,” as the
Northeast Georgia group is
called, was formally bom
after six months of
preliminary ground work and
committee functioning, led
by a Catholic priest, a
dumber of Baptist pastors,
leaders from Ninth District
Opportunity, Inc. VISTA
workers, Episcopalians,
Methodists and Presbyterians.
The area involved is
characterized both in general
conservative atmosphere and
such statistics as 2,670
persons unemployed, 20,437
families with less that $3,000
annual income, 1,097 school
dropouts, 36 per cent of
housing classified as
sub-standard, more than 30
per cent of the population
over 25 years old with less
than eighth grade education.
Now mobilized again in
committees, those involved in
“Mission” are preparing a
structured assault on poverty.
FR. RUFF
Started It
Immediate goals are being
set for housing, for ministries
to the elderly, for day care
centers, for nutritional,
programs, for recreation
facilities, for tutoring aids,
for clothing sales centers, for
employment, health, finacial
and educational services.
AUTHORITY for the
modem battle on inequities,
rejected for decades in this
area because of the inevitable
label of ecumenism which is
feared especially by Baptiste,
has been assumed simply
from a centuries-old mandate.
“ .. .1 was hungry and you
fed me . . . thirsty and you
gave me drink .. .a stranger
and you took me in .. .
naked and you clothed
me .. .sick and you took care
of me .. .in prison and you
visited me ...”
. Success of the first full
gathering of supporters in
Cleveland was surprising to
some. Approximately 260
leaders, representing a large
percentage of the
denominational makeup of
Northeast Georgia were in
attendance. Because of the
heavy Baptist population of
the area, committee chairmen
and others among the
organizers were encouraged
to see a signficant number of
small church Baptist pastors
present. Cooperation has
been given also by Truett
McConnell College.
Noticeable absences were
apparent, leaders said,
however, of “First Baptist
Church” pastors and Baptist
associational leaders.
Brooks Hays, director of
the Center for Ecumenical
Studies at Wake Forest
University, stated the goal:
“We are determined that
those deprived shall share in
affluence.”
As guest speaker for the
banquet group, Dr. Hays said:
“Unworthy of a Christian
nation is the fact of millions
who will go to bed hungry
tonight. However, no mattei
how much is brought in for
food, nothing can take the
(Continued on Page 2)
WASHINGTON (NC) — The U.S. Catholic bishops at their
semi-annual meeting here made an effort to end the
four-year-old strike of the California grape pickers. John
Cardinal Dearden of Detroit, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a telegram to the Table
Grape Growers Negotiating Committee based in Los Alamitos,
Calif., urged the growers to submit their case to the Federal
Mediation and Conciliation Service.
Cemetery Discrimination
BIRMINGHAM, Ala (NC) — Negro soldiers were urged by a
white priest to refuse combat duty unless racial discrimination is
eliminated in cemeteries. Father Eugene. Farrell, S.S.J., made
the suggestion during a prayer vigil outside the gates of
Elmwood Cemetery here honoring a black GI how was killed in
combat last July in Vietnam. The black soldier, Bill Terry Jr., is
buried across town from Elmwood in a cemetery for Negroes.
He had expressed his wish to be buried in Elmwood if he should
die while serving in Vietnam. Elmwood can be seen from the
porch of Terry’s childhood home. But Elmwood is reserved for
white bodies. Father Farrell and five other area ministers led
about 500 perons in prayer on Veterans’ Day, calling it a “Day
of Contradiction.”
Thanksgiving Day Mass
WASHINGTON (NC) - For the first time, U.S. Catholics
who attend church on Thanksgiving Day this year will hear a
Mass constructed by liturgists especially for this national civil
holiday. The themes of thanksgiving to God for His blessings on
oiir land as “a place of promise and hope, as well as an
appreciation for our responsibility to our fellowman, are
expressed through prayers, suggested hymns, and a choice of
readings from the Old and New Testaments. The texts of the
Mass, besides expressing thanksgiving, are also appropriate to
the liturgical action they accompany. The entrance song is a
psalm of entrance into the thanksgiving sacrifice. The prayer
recalls the Protestant notion of America populated by a
covenanted society. In accord with the new Ordinary of the
Mass, provision is made for three Scriptural readings-13
selections, six from the Old Testament; four from the epistles of
St. Paul; three from the Gospels-suitable to the theme of
thanksgiving are given in the text. Variants are proposed for
both offertory and communion songs. The postcommunion
recalls our appreciation for God’s goodness and our
responsibility to our fe'.lowman.
Earlier, they had
established a special office for
Black Catholicism, to be
organized by the Black
Catholic Clergy Caucus.
The bishops admitted
Father Patrick O’Malley of
Chicago, president of the
National Federation of
Priests’ Councils, heard him
ask for the representation of
priests in the Church’s
national decision-making
process, and indicated that
they would hasten the steps
already taken in that
direction.
And when the Canon Law
Society presented a sweeping
set of recommendations to
establish and improve
procedures fo r making
decisions and settling disputes
in the Church, the bishops
urged each other to try them
out.
In the eyes of many,
however, the tangible
results-the votes, resolutions
and appropriations-weie
overshadowed by a fresh
atmosphere of curiosity and
openness.
The Black United Front of
Washington, led by
black-hatted Rev. Dougles
Moore, failed to gain entry to
the bishops’ meeting. But
they did have a brief and
friendly talk with Archbishop
Philip M. Hannan of New
(Continued on Page 7)