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PAGE 4—The Georgia Bulletin, September 2, 1971
"'IfTiimiriiiit «r aIUnta mannc aeomuas n northexx on sties
Butlntsi Offle*
756 W«t P«icMr««, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Most Rev. Thomas A. Donnellan D.D, J.C.D Publisher
Harry Murphy, Editor
Fr. James Maciejewski - Associate Editor
Member of the Catholio^Preas Association
and Subscriber to N.C.W.C. News Service
Telephone 875-55 36
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Published weekly except the second and last weeks
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At 202 E. Sixth St., Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
The opinions contained in these editorial columns are ___
_i..i — the free expressions of free editors in a free Catholic press. —«__
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Pillheads Breed Billheads
“Some of these children will graduate
at an early age to use of alcohol and then
to illegal drugs,” Dr. Donald B. Louria
warned parents in testimony before a
Senate Monopoly subcommittee chaired
by Wisconsin’s Gaylord Nelson.
“If you want your children to use
illicit drugs, be a user of sedatives or
tranquilizers or stimulants yourselves, or
an excessive user of alcohol or tobacco,”
chided Louria.
“Parents and their communities just
have no right to avoid the responsibility
for creating the atmosphere in which
drug abuse among their children occurs,”
said Louria.
Louria disclosed a study that dealt
with 5,000 junior and senior high school
students in two counties in Ontario,
Canada.
Students whose mothers used
tranquilizers were 3Vi times as likely to
be on marijuana as the children of
mothers who did not--and 5 times as
likely to be on LSD or amphetamines; 7
times as likely to be on tranquilizers, and
10 times as likely to be on heroin or
other opiates.
Louria, with colleagues at the College
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
in Newark, did a study of 12,000
students at six junior and senior high
schools in unidentified middle and upper
class communities in northern New
Jersey.
He said that study was entirely
consistent with the Canadian findings.
As an example, he said, the N.J. study
revealed that fathers of students who
have injected “speed” into their veins
used prescription tranquilizers or
stimulants at a rate 5V6 times that of
fathers of non-users. He said that among
mothers the rate was three times as high.
Louria also declared illicit drug use to
be two to three times as frequent among
students whose parents smoked one or
more packs of cigarettes a day as among
students whose parents smoked less or
not at all. No such relation was indicated
in the case of parents who drank in
moderation.
The New Jersey doctor warned that
we over-medicate ourselves because
society is rapidly becoming “pleasure
oriented” and want “to avoid pain or
discomfort at all costs.” Leisure time, he
said, is becoming more abundant; those
with too much leisure will rely even
more on chemicals.
Society should commit itself to
reducing boredom that often precedes
drug use, and shift from pleasure seeking
to more important goals. We should, he
urged, seek substitute, safer intoxicants
for alcohol and tobacco. The
Government should help by insisting on
the absolute advertising truth of the
so-called mood drugs.
(From “Action," the Alliance for Labor Action
magazine.)
Discrimination By Unions
WASHINGTON (NC) — Discriminatory are ineligible for membership in any union
treatment of minorities - particularly blacks because they must compete for jobs in “a large
and the Spanish-speaking - was sharply sector of the marginal labor market” which is
criticized in the 1971 Labor Day statement of unorganized,
the division of urban life, United States
Catholic Conference. The statement agreed with the contention of
civil rights leader Bayard Rustin that those who
The statement particularly condemned the a re telling black workers that the labor
hypocrisy of those labor unions that practice movement is their enemy, not their friend, is a
racial discrimination. disservice to the black working class.
But the statement concluded with an
expression of “confident expectation that the
labor movement will take the lead and show us
the way to adapt our institutions to the rapidly
changing needs of our times.”
“For the sake of the cause which labor is
privileged to represent, it cannot afford to be
late, nor can the rest of us afford to let it be
late, in meeting the legitimate aspirations of
workers in general and of the poor in particular
for complete equality and for the fullest
possible measure of shared responsibility and
self-determination - the hallmarks of free men
in a free society,” the statement cautioned.
Prepared under the guidance of Msgr. George
G. Higgins, director of the USCC division, the
statement noted that Pope Paul VI recently
emphasized the ever-widening twin aspirations
of equality and shared responsibility among
men.
In “no other nation in the world has there
been, in recent years, a more widespread and
more insistent demand on the part of so many
different groups for a greater degree of equality
and a fuller measure of participation in the
affairs of our society” than in the United
States, the statement said.
Concerning blacks, largest of the minority
groups, the statement said “some unions to
their shame and discredit and in complete
defiance of the principles of justice and
equality which they boastfully claim to be
guided by, are still practicing racial
discrimination.”
It also agreed with Rustin’s observation that
the blacks have a choice - either “fight to
strengthen the trade union movement by
wiping out the vestiges of segregation,” or to
“offer themselves as pawns in the conservatives’
games of bust-the-unions.”
“But if black workers have a choice, so does
the labor movement,” the statement said. It can
either practice what it preaches in the area of
racial justice and racial equality - not merely in
some of its affiliates, but in all of them,
including the most restricted and restrictive
crafts - or, by failing to do so, it can bring
down upon itself not only the enmity but also,
at some point, the hatred of the black
community.”
The statement said the Spanish-speaking,
especially the Chicanos, are “another minority
group of workers in our society who are
looking to the labor movement for the fullest
possible measure of support in their belated and
very difficult struggle for genuine equality.”
The statement acknowledged some unions
admittedly practice discrimination against
Chicanos, but added, on the basis of evidence
gathered through a study “the pattern of
minority employment is better among
employers who have made arrangements with
labor unions.. .than it among those who do
not have such arrangements.”
The tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking
farm workers who have organized and are
working “out their economic destiny in and
through the labor movement” drew the praise
of the USCC division.
“These unions deserve to be condemned for
their hypocrisy and must expect to be held up
to public scorn,” the statement asserted.
“The injustice done to a black worker who is
discriminated against by a particular union is a
crime that cries out to heaven for vengeance,”
the statement declared.
The statement said that the overriding
problem i<‘t many black workers is that they
Also lauded were churchmen of various
faiths who have supported “the patient and
remarkably peaceful efforts of these
determined farm workers.”
The statement cautioned that the two
alternatives open to blacks regarding the labor
movement, also are open to the
Spanish-speaking - either fight discrimination
from within the ranks of organized labor or join
the conservatives’ “bust-the-unions” movement.
(NC NEWS SVC.)
It Seems To Me
v J
Like most people I am an
admirer of Belgium’s Cardinal
Leo Suenens. But sometimes
I cannot help wishing that
when he talks about problems
in the Church he would be
more specific than he is.
A case in point was his
interview with NC News
Service con-
S proposed
co nstitution
for the Church
Fundamen-
At Pope Paul’s direction,
such a constitution has been
under preparation for five
years in the Pontifical
Commission for the Revision
of Canon (Church) Law,
which expects to devote
several more years to the task
before submitting a proposed
final draft for the reactions of
the world’s bishops.
The commission says there
has been extensive
consultation all along with
bishops and experts. But
Cardinal Suenens complained
of haste, secrecy or
simi-secrecy, and “lack of
collegial discussion” with the
JOSEPH BREIG
public, which “will have to
live under” the constitution.
He spoke of the need for
public opinion in the matter;
but I am afraid that his
generalizing did little to
enlighten the public so that
an intelligent opinion could
be formed.
A few weeks later, a more
useful comment was made by
Bishop Joseph Breitenbeck of
Grand Rapids, Mich. He gave
the following reasons for
criticizing the present draft:
-It places the World Synod
of Bishops below the College
of Cardinals and the Roman
Curia (central administrative
body in the Church) “as
advisors and consultants to
the papacy.”
-It does not give proper
importance to regional and
national conferences of
bishops.
--Certain rights -for
instance the right of
participating in governing the
Church -are expressed so
vaguely “that no real right is
guaranteed at all.”
-No real accountability to
the people is demanded of
Church office holders.
-There is no mention of
Senates of Priests, pastoral
councils and synods, all of
which are strongly
encouraged in the documents
of the Second Vatican
Council.
Thus spoke Bishop
Breitenbeck. Meanwhile, NC
News Service says that a
special Vatican commission,
created by Pope Paul at the
suggestion of the U.S.
bishops, is ready to report on
a year’s study of a proposed
“administrative law” in the
Church.
The law, said the news
service, will simplify recourse
to Church courts, will firmly
establish due process, and can
make the Church “one of the
most genuinely democratic
secieties on earth, wiping out
its image as a severely
authoritarian body.”
This proposed
“administrative law” perhaps
will meet some of the
objections voiced by Bishop
Breitenbeck, and alluded to
by Cardinal Suenens.
Certainly, thanks to Bishop
Breitenbeck’s specifics, we
are on the way to becoming
sufficiently informed to form
intelligent opinions.
Church Chuckles bv CARTWRIGHT
Listen, you're going to be a
hearted Christian if I have to beat
you!"
loving, kind-
the pants off
($C NEWS SVC.)
( —N
Jots & Tittles
/
FATHER JAMES MACIEJEWSKI
Let’s go around the track one more time
about movie ratings.
Three weeks ago the point I was making
about these ratings was obscured by the
obvious fact that I didn’t care for the movie in
question, RED SKY AT MORNING, even as
entertainment.
But BILLY JACK is another story.
I liked the film a great deal. It makes the
most powerful case against class prejudice and
ethnic bigotry that I have seen on the screen in
a long time. It’s an arresting film, one that I
wouldn’t hesitate to recommend - but to adults
and not to children.
And here’s why. In the course of two hours
the film presents us with some very frank talk
about the illegitimate pregnancy of a young
teenager. We also witness two teenagers in the
act of intercourse, one of whom is only 13
years old. We see all but the consummation of a
rape perpetrated upon an older woman by a
young man.
Besides this there is enough brutality to
unsettle the stomach of even the most
insensitive viewer.
I don’t think it is prudish or squeamish to
suggest that this is not a film for the immature
or the impressionable. And yet the film is rated
GP - all ages admitted with parental guidance
suggested.
But how are parents to offer the “guidance
suggested”? From what source do they get the
information they need?
Surely they cannot be expected to preview
every movie to which they send their children.
Furthermore the advertisements are not a
helpful tip-off. The ad for BILLY JACK says
only: “Billy Jack - Just a person who protects
children and other living things.”
And so, many parents continue to depend
upon the G-GP-R-X rating system and freely
and unwarily send their children to G and GP
movies, the only ones to which unescorted
children are permitted. But they would be
shocked to know what their children are seeing
under the GP label.
This is not to suggest that children should, or
can, be shielded from the realities of sex and
violence in this world. But is the local movie
house the proper school for their initiation? Is
the Hollywood moviemaker or the child’s
parent the proper instructor? Does a
commercial film have the delicacy or sensitivity
required for such instruction?
Further, this is not to suggest that sex and
violence are improper material for good films.
Art is a mirror of life and must reflect life fully
and accurately to have value. There is sex and
violence in Sophocles and Shakespeare.
And given the broader, tougher sensibilities
of people today, BILLY JACK is probably a
fine film for them to see. A fine film for adults,
that is, who presumably are able to assimilate
such strong film fare into established value
patterns. Not for children, who will surely have
a hard time in coming to terms with life in the
raw as they see it in pictures like this.
Most of the displeasure with the rating
system focuses on the middle designations of
GP and R. There is less quibbling about what
constitutes a G (completely innocuous) or an X
(very dangerous) film. But many complaints are
heard today that films labelled GP should really
be given the restrictive rating of R. The reason
why they are not may lie in the realm of
economics. For the statistics indicate that a
movie rated GP has a potential gross which is
20 per cent higher than an R movie, and the
members of the Motion Picture Association
who issue the ratings cannot purify themselves
entirely from motives of financial self-interest.
The answer, I believe, is to junk the present
rating system and replace it with an entirely
new one. Guiding such a new system should be
certain operative principles:
1. We need a way of evaluating the ethical
quality of motion pictures for the guidance of
adults and the protection of children.
2. The new system should be simple enough
to comprehend easily, yet sophisticated enough
to allow for the shadings and nuances required
in such an evaluation.
3. The rating board should be independent of
the motion picture industry and free of the
economic pressures that influence ratings
today.
4. Every movie advertisement should carry
the rating assigned and every theater manager
should insure that the restrictions are observed.
LIFE magazine carried a thoughtful article
on movie ratings by Thomas Thompson in its
August 20 issue. A small excerpt suggests the
larger seriousness of the problem:
As an experiment, I telephoned a New York
neighborhood theater which was playing CAT O’
NINE TAILS, a gruesome, lurid, sadistic murder
mystery featuring a garroting, a vivid nude love scene,
a homosexual bar interlude, and limitless ways to kill,
torture and maim. This horror drew a GP and was
thoughtfully released just as school summer vacation
time began. I asked the theater’s cashier for
information about the film. She had none, so I insisted
on talking with the manager.
“I’m thinking about sending my kids to see CAT O’
NINE TAILS today. You think it’s all right for
them?”
“Yeah, it’s fine, ” he said. “It’s GP. ”
“The ads say it’s a chiller. It’s not too much for kids
9 and 12, is it?”
“It’s a mystery. You know - Hitchcock stuff. I
haven’t seen it all, but it seems OK. There’s a little girl
in it. It’s about her. ”
Indeed there is a little girl in the film. She is
kidnapped, menaced, and terrorized by the
psychopathic killer in a scene guaranteed to give at
least one sleepless night to any small child. I would
just as soon let my children watch a public execution
as CAT O’NINE TAILS.