Newspaper Page Text
I
ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA
Tin-
SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Vol. 8 No. 12
—
-
THURSDAY, MARCH 19,1970
■
—
$5 per year
Dear
Reader
BY HARRY MURPHY
In this edition we have
reprinted a story from The
Christian Index, published by
the Georgia Baptist
Convention, about a minister
who was fired by his
congregation over the race
issue.
He took his stand in a
small town where he knew it
would be unpopular, but at
the same time he knew it was
the Christian thing to do.
Catholics cannot fire their
pastors, which has its
advantages and disadvantages,
but it is probably one of main
reasons that the Church
has been able to move
faster on non-bias
commitments than some
other religions.
But we are still called on to
take actions to back up these
commitments and these
stands may be as unpopular
as the Manchester minister’s.
He made a decision that he
would follow Christ’s
teachings and when the time
came, he did just that. Those
who fired him, however,
made the mistake of many
Christians: They saw no
connection, or chose to
ignore it if they did, between
Christ’s teachings and the
minister bringing black
people into his congregation.
Their customs took
precedent over their religious
teachings-When people grow
up in segregated society and
no one questions it from the
pulpit or anywhere else, it is
generally accepted as being
right.
If segregation is
un-Christian, then why didn’t
our previous pastor question
it? My friends’s pastor never
says anything about it and
he’s a Christian, too, they
say.
No one is required to join a
Christian church, but if he
does he should be prepared to
follow its beliefs. But what
are its beliefs in regard to
other races, creeds, classes
and philosophies?
How many people would
join a Christian church if they
had to agree to:
-Welcome ANYONE who
applied for membership so
long as he believed Christ’s
teachings and agreed to
follow them.
-Not turn away ANYONE
who asked for help, so long as
they are truly in need.
-Put more weight on a
person’s deeds than on his
dress, salary, car, house or
number of organizations to
which he belongs.
Examples should be cited
of the above. For instance,
applicants should be told that
if a black man applies for
membership, he Will be
welcomed; if the family of a
drunk asks for help, they will
get it; hippies *will be
welcome.
This is not to say that the
tenets of such as The Creed
would be neglected, but that
there would a translation into
modem terms of just what it
means to be a Christian.
So many persons join a
church, however, with no
idea of what they are getting
into; with no conception of
the awesome responsibility of
what it is to be a true
Christian.
It is a social experience
which they are seeking,
fullfilling a dictum' that
upstanding members of any
community belong to a
church. The dictum should go
further, however, and say
that members must practice
what they preach.
(Continued on Page 8)
T eacher
At Emory
To Speak
“The Churches of the
World must unify if they are
to speak effectively to the
World.” So said Dr. Ted
Runyon, Dean of the Candler
School of Theology, Emory
University.
Dr. Runyon, who is talking
on Ecumenism at the
Catholic Congress on Worship
in Atlanta on April 16-18,
was interviewed recently by
the Reverend Robert Kinast,
Assistant Pastor at Blessed
Sacrament Church in Atlanta.
Dr. Runyon’s talk will be
in response to an address on
building community through
the liturgy by Reverend
Eugene Kennedy,
priest-psychologist from
Loyola University in Chicago.
Hie following is the full
text of Dr. Runyon’s
interview with Rev. Kinast:
Q. You have been involved
in the ecumenical movement
since the Council. HoW would
you assess the present
situation as compared with
five years ago?
Well, it seems very clear that
we have moved beyond the initial
excitement that came from the
fresh contacts of Catholics and
Protestants. There was a whole
new dimension that was
introduced into both Catholicism
and Protestantism from those first
dialogues and prayer services. It
was as if we rediscovered each
other after several centuries. This
kind of romantic spbit has
quieted down, as it inevitably had
to.
Q. Where do we stand
now?
The initial concerns and
interests of the ecumenical
movement seem now to have
given way to the major political
and social problems of the world:
War, Racism, Poverty. There has
been a consequent diminishing of
the internal “church” questions.
In rediscovering one another, we
also have rediscovered the world,
and come to recognize that its
problems dwarf our own.
Q. Is there still a value in
pursuing Church Unity?
Definitely. The Churches won’t
be able to speak very effectively
to the world if they are not
united. Church Unity is a
necessary prelude to the type of
service we want to give the world.
I think personally that the thrust
toward reconciliation and unity
which characterized the churches
five years ago could have a more
far-reaching effect if we hadn’t
gotten involved in the Viet Nam
War. The polarization of opinions
concerning die war has posed a
real obstacle for the churches,
both in regard to their own
efforts at reconciliation and in the
effect that they could have on
society at large.
Q. How do you analyze the
present situation in Roman
Catholicism?
Certainly one of the most
hopeful things that happened at
the Council was the manner in
which the bishops seized the
initiative for providing positive
leadership as contrasted with the
type of defensive attitude of
protecting the institution which
was characteristic of Roman
Catholicism before the Council.
At the present time, there seems
to be a return to that defensive
posture and an unfortunate loss
of initiative.
Q. Is the movement which
began at Vatican dead
therefore?
No, not at all One of the most
productive areas of development
begun at the Council and stUI
continuing is the liturgy. And,
this movement has had a great
influence on Protestant worship.
Most of the liturgical renewal in
Protestantism has been marked by
a return to a medieval form of
worship, or a kind of absolutizing
of 19th century liturgy. There has
not been as creative a movement
within Protestantism as you find
in Catholicism.
Q. 1 Whenever discussion
(Continued on Page 7)
Priests Elect;
; i , 'V'l’jV; I \ \ i / | I '■ r ; ' A
Name Deadline
By Gerard E. Sherry
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (NC) — The National Federation of Priests’ Councils (NFPC)
concluded its annual meeting here by electing new officers and setting a deadline for
an answer on its request that Pope Paul VI review the case of 19 disciplined
Washington priests.
Chaplain For A Day
Father John Mulroy, pastor of Sacred Heart Church and co-chairman of Concerned Clergy, is
shown with Rep. Gerald Horton and House Speaker George L. Smith. The priest was the House
chaplain on the last day of the General Assembly session.
Music Is Essential
To Congress Theme
The theme of the Catholic Congress on Worship to be held in Atlanta on April
16-18 will be “JOIN HANDS IN PRAYER,” and music will play an essential role in
expressing this theme. Three principle liturgy celebrations will be held during the
Congress, according to Hamilton Smith, Director of Music for the Cathedral of
Christ the King Parish in Atlanta, and a wide variety of styles and idioms will be
used to enhance them.
Thursday evening’s theme
of RECONCILIATION AND
PENANCE Will be projected
in a multi-media setting
featuring the use of slides,
recorded music, and musical
settings by various folk
groups from throughout the
city. The combined use of
these diverse audio and visual
stimuli will emphasize the
community of Christians in
confessing their guilt and
becoming reconciled with
God and each other.
The BROTHERHOOD OF
MAN as expressed through
community action in worship
will be celebrated in the
choral style on Friday
evening. A choir of some two
hundred voices will lead the
Congress participants in the
Psalm settings of Fr. Lucien
Deiss and Hymns emphasizing
the common bond of
brotherhood which unites all
men. The choir will further
acclaim this theme in the
anthems “Clap Your Hands
All You Peoples” by John
Diercks and “The Bread Is
One” by Alexander Peloquin.
The music for Saturday
morning’s celebration will be
in the Key of Hope,
emphasizing the hopefulness
of the Christian striving
toward God and his fellow
man. Much of the music for
this celebration has been
composed by Paul Bemy, a
Seminarian studying for the
priesthood for the
Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Bemy’s song “He Is Our
Hope” and Father Jerry
Hardy’s composition “Join
Hands in Prayer” will vividly
acclaim the Hope of the
Christian Community joining
their hands and voices in
prayer.
“Let the Whole Church
Celebrate” is the topic of the
keynote talk by Rev. J. Paul
Byron.
Father Byron is the
President of the Southeastern
Congress on Worship, and a
member of the Board of
Directors of the National
Liturgical Conference.
More than 4,000 people
are expected to attend the
Congress, which starts
Thursday, April 16 at 2 p.m.,
with a professional session for
architects and priests led by
Robert Rambusch,
internationally known
architect and designer.
His topic will be “The
Church Building as a Builder
of Community,” and he will
be assisted by a panel of
reactors in the architectural
field. On Saturday, April 18,
Mr. Rambusch will lead a talk
on The Environment in
Which We Celebrate - a
popular presentation on uses
of the parish church.
Thursday evening at 8
p.m., the Archbishop of
Atlanta, Thomas A.
Donnellan, will welcome the
delegates. Then, Rev. J. Paul
Byron will present the
keynote talk, followed by a
presentation by Bishop Frey
of Savannah on the topic of
community.
Father Byron, from the
diocese of Raleigh, is a pastor
in Jacksonville, N.C. He is on
the Advisory Committee to
the U.S. Bishops on Liturgy
Adaptation and is Chairman
of the Bishops’ Committee on
Music in the Liturgy.
Thursday evening will close
with a multi-media
presentation based on the
theme of Reconciliation.
“Nothing is more evidently
at the core of the Christian
life than our public worship -
our liturgy.”
So said Rev. C. J.
McNaspy, S.J., Associate
Editor of AMERICA
Magazine. The Jesuit scholar,
who is renowned as an expert
in the field of meaningful
liturgy, will be a speaker at
the Congress.
Rev. McNaspy will discuss
the changes in the liturgy of
the Catholic Church, and how
these changes contribute to
the elements of community
_1n today’s life. He will be
responding to a talk by the
Rev. Eugene Kennedy, a
priest- psychologist-professor
from Loyola University in
Chicago on Friday morning,
April 17.
Further information may
be obtained by contacting the
Congress at 404/237-5093, or
writing to P.O. Box 52532,
Atlanta, Georgia 30305.
Father Frank Bonnike,
pastor of St. Mary’s Church
in De Kalb, Bl., was chosen
president of the federation.
He is past president of the
Rockford diocesan priests’
senate.
Father Bonnike was
elected after he was
nominated from the floor. He
received the delegates’ nod
for a two year term over
four candidates, three of
them proposed by the
NFPC’s nominating
committee-Msgr. Alexander
Sigur of Lafayette, La., and
Fathers William Murphy of
Glendale, Ariz., and Edward
Stanton of Austin Town*
Ohio.
The fourth, Father James
Purcell of Marin County,
Calif., was also nominated
from the floor.
Father Bonnike succeeds
Father Patrick O’Malley of
Chicago, founding president
of the two-year-old national
priests’ group.
in their final plenary
session (March 12), the NFPC
delegates set April 20 as the
deadline for a response to
their plea that the Vatican
review the case of the
Washington priests disciplined
by Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle
in 1968 for disagreeing with
the Pope’s birth control
encyclical.
The federation’s proposal
calling for judicial review was
Holy Cross Fathers Expelled
BOSTON (NC)- Cardinal Richard Cushing has banished the
Holy Cross Fathers from the Boston archdiocese effective June
30. The action came as a climax to the controversy involving the
sale by the archdiocese of St. Peter’s Central High School in
nearby Gloucester to that city. The Holy Cross Fathers staff the
school and openly opposed the cardinal’s efforts to negotiate
the sale. Cardnal Cushing informed Father Richard Sullivan,
C.S.C., Holy Cross Fathers provincial superior, that
archdiocesan faculties for that congregation of priests and
Brothers would be suspended on June 30 when the Gloucester
school is closed.
Two Bishops Named
WASHINGTON (NC)-Pope Paul VI has named two new
members of the U.S. hierarchy, one in Texas and another in
Guam, it was announced here by Archbishop Luigi Raimondi,
apostolic delegate in the U.S. Father Patrick F. Flores of
Houston was appointed auxiliary to Archbishop Francis J.
Furey of San Antonio and titular bishop of Santiponce (Italica).
Msgr. Felixberto Comacho Flores, apqstolic administrator of the
Agana, Guam, diocese, has been named titular bishop of Stonj
(Stagnum).
Teachers Wages Hiked
PITTSBURGH (NC)-Lay teachers in the Pittsburgh diocese’s
Catholic high schools have been awarded across-the board salary
increases at all levels, to begin with the opening of school next
September. The new salary scale was accepted by the diocesan
school board and the Secondary Lay Teachers’ Guild. Details of
the wage scheduled were worked out by a 10-member
committee appointed by Pittsburgh’s Bishop Vincent M.
Leonard. Under terms of the new scale, the starting salary for
lay teachers with a bachelor’s degree will be $6,400. Master’s
degree holders will start at $6,800. Those already teaching in
the school system will be awarded raises based on the number of
years they have served and on their educational qualifications.
Bishops, Priests
Trade Observers
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (NC)- The National
Federation of Priests Councils (NFPC) reached a new
plateau of mutual communicating with the country’s
bishops, inviting an archbishop to address their own
convention here and agreeing almost unanimously to
send NFPC observers to -the- hierarchy’s April
meeting.
In a display of openness,
the NFPC’s 250-member
House of Delegates asked
Archbishop Thomas J.
McDonough of Lousiville-an
official observer representing
the U.S. bishops-to address
the gathering.
Archbishop McDonough
responded by urging that
priests, bishops, Religious and
laity close ranks. Appealing
for more dialogue, the prelate
stressed: “Unity is the key
word.”
Shortly before the
archbishop’s unscheduled
talk, the federation took
another significant action.
The priests not only
determined to send observers
to the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops (NCCB)
semiannual meeting
scheduled next month in San
Francisco, they also
threatened to make a public
protest if their observers are
not permitted to view the
deliberations.
The bishops allowed
Father Patrick O’Mallf * of
Chicago, the feden. jn’s
president, to address their fall
gathering last year in
Washington, but the
hierarchy in the past has not
invited outside guests to its
meetings.
Resolutions adopted at the
convention reflected the
NFPC’s concern for shared
(Continued on Page 2)
delivered to the Vatican
Secretariat of State on Feb.
23. The NFPC’s House of
Delegates declared that if
they receive no response,
they will call an emergency
meeting to plan their next
step.
The chairman of the
committee which proposed
the resolution, Father Harry
Arbanas of Great Falls,
Mont., said there would be
^drastic action taken” if a
positive answer is not
forthcoming from the
Vatican.
One of the 19 priests,
Father Joseph Byron,
thanked the delegates for
their support. He asked them
to return to their dioceses
and make the priests there
aware of the situation. He
said they might eventually be
called upon to come forward
and say whether or not they
agree with the position of the
suspended priests.
The 250-man House of
Delegates also urged the
National Conference of
Catholic Bishops (NCCB) to
support their petitions for a
judicial review, preferably in
the United States.
The April 20 deadline for
response is the opening date
of the U.S. bishops meeting
in San Francisco. The NFPC
has been working with
concerned canon lawyers on
this issue for more than a
year.
In a separate action, the
House of Delegates criticized
the U.S. bishops for their
recent support of the position
of Pope Paul on celibacy,
saying the bishops had failed
to mention that their public
statement on the matter in
November 1969 cited the
seriousness of the problem of
the need for open discussion
of celibacy in the U.S.
Pope Paul, has declared
that celibacy “cannot be
abandoned or subjected to
argument.”
The delegates also resolved
that the executives of the
NFPC initiate immediate and
practical dialogue with
bishops who show an
openness to discuss the
matter.
The NFPC is cooperating
with the NCCB in a total
study of celibacy in the U.S.
The delegates rescinded a
vote they had taken the night
before on an experimental
ministry. The proposal
supported the priests who are
developing alternatives to the
conventional ministry
because they are needed at
this time in the Church.
In another resolution, the
NFPC offered to cooperate
with the bishops and other
interested organizations in
developing a plan whereby all
church members would be
involved in the process Of
selecting bishops.
The NFPC delegates also
authorized their executive
board to hire a full-time
director to implement the
organization’s social action
program.
The priests reminded the
U.S. bishops that they have
promised to spend $50
million on an educational
effort to develop a national
will on matters of social
justice and to provide
financial assistance for
self-help and self-determina
tion for community
organizations.
The priest-delegates asked
for the implementation of the
bishops pledge adopted at
their semi-annual meeting last
fall in Washington.
Denver was selected for the
federation’s 1972 NFPC
convention.
Much attention was
focused at the conventiqn on
minorities including blacks
and Chicanos. Several
delegates commented on the
scarcity of black priests
present. They also responded
enthusiastically to a plea
from Father Edmundo
Rodriguez of San Antonio,
vice chairman of Padres, a
Mexican-American priests’
association.
jOL.
$250,300
March 1,1970
iSp
Feb. 27,1970
111-
1
Feb. 20,1970
9J
■
C3
£
CO
5
Feb. 13,1970
.a
V
&
Feb.6,1970
1
f
Charities Drive Thermometer