^ Press—Adult Education
Describing the Catholic Press a6 “the single most im
portant influence to complement the Catholic school system
on the level of Adult education, — we spend so much money
on the education of children and spend no time or money on
the education of the Catholic laity — except in our own
press,” a California Bishop said, since the Second Vatican
Council, “the day of infantile Christianity should be gone
forever.” The Catholic press, he said, “can bring us out of
the kindergarten by exposing all to a new degree of Cath
olic education.”
- He sees the fruitful press as one dealing with contro
versy and which is an open forum but warns newsmen to
carefully present both sides and not to use the press as an
instrument to promote personal views and ideas.
These are weighty thoughts for us during this “Year of
Faith.”
r Do we read the diocesan press out of a spirit of loyalty
only because it is Catholic, or for an interest in learning the
happenings around the diocese, nation and world, as they
take place, of of the private or official pronouncements
which are made in behalf of the Church.
Catholic journalism, like its education and church spon
sored welfare programs, is under-going a searching re-evalu
ation. Some publications are ceasing, others amalgamating,
new ones appearing aiid as the daily newspapers have
stepped up their coverage of religion there is competative
response toward increased professionalism and improved
coverage in the diocesan press.
The Catholic paper of the Baltimore area is edited by a
layman. He says, “The diocesan paper, in addition to pub
lishing the news, has an additional ditty to offer sound edi
torial comment and to keep Catholics abreast of develop
ments in the Church. The diocesan newspaper can be a vital
ingredient in continuing adult education of Catholics, and
in my opinion it ought to be. This role cannot be filled by
the daily newspaper,” he concluded.
Thinking Catholic laity are expressing the need of an
hour weekly “Sunday School” as the Confraternity offers the
children. It seems the weekday evenings given to discussion
club texts are always running in conflict with family, com
munity or other commitments. The Sunday morning hour
seems made for religious education. Maybe the day will
come to this for the study of scripture, adult Christian Doc
trine and moral issues. Until that time arrives the weekly
diocesan press remains our strongest effort in stabilizing
progressive thinking toward the directives of implementing
the decrees of Vatican II.
I
Religious Antiques
News reports of looting antiques from unguarded
churches in England and Mexico, tell us of the corresponding
rise in the sales of religious art treasures in antique shops
around the world. “Everyone knows how antique dealers
openly sell paintings, sculpture, ivory pieces and liturgical
objects that obviously came from our churches,” said an of
ficial of the National Academy of History in Mexico. He
pointed out that these treasurers are an irreplaceable part
of a national heritage.
While making calls at various interior decorator studios
recently, seeking samples for a wall covering in the area
of the sanctuary where the “altar fixed to the wall” once
stood, we saw a pair of altar candlelabrum on display for
sale. The handsome gold plated articles, with the seven
candie sockets and adjustable arms, did look good on the
massive dining buffet, and, no doubt, they had served their
usefulness in a church.
The statue manufacturing company of Daprato, is ceas
ing operations the first of the year, we are informed. No
doubt this is a result of the trend of sanctuary designers to
day who cite simplicity as the hallmark for furnishings now
suitable to the revised liturgical services of divine worship.
Be that as it may, however, as our present Catholic church
buildings are being renovated throughout the country to
logically accommodate the English dialogue and the simplifi
cation of the rubrics, let all of us be extremely careful lest
we prove to be an open market for antique dealers who will
generously offer to take discarded sanctuary furnishings off
our hands.
Already in mothball storage are the heavy, ornate mis
sal stands; the gold-plated filigree framed altar cards; the
handsomely all-leather bound altar missals; the massive
traditional “six high Mass candlesticks” and possibly a vari
ety of brass candlelabrum. Among this collection of appoint
ments no longer in use, there is possibly a painting or statue,
a wood carving of some intrinsic value to the parish, or per
haps a gift of a benefactor. The problem is, what to do with
these items that seem to belong to another age, yet demand
some judgment to be made for their proper disposition.
The Cardinal of London was recently quoted as giving
a directive that unused altar plate may be sold and the pro
ceeds donated to the poor. If this is correct, surely such
sales cannot be made without some kind of specific direction.
The museums of the world are full of treasures once
found in the Catholic churches of Europe. Shortly after
World War II we traveled around Germany and were im
pressed by the excellent blending of the traditional furnish
ings which survived the bombings, and with the modem
See'rSIkIoub Antiques, page 7A
One More Challenge
In Current Thought
America’s Top Priority Claims
U.S. Rights Commission Says
WASHINGTON — The problems of race and poverty
cannot be resolved until their solutions are made America’s
first priority, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said in
a report released here (Nov. 22).
The report also warned that the solutions do not lie
at the end of a search for culprits and conspirators, or in
cneap or pauuess cure-aiis.
The report, entitled “A Time
to Listen ... A Time to Act,”
compiled data learned in com
mission hearings and State Ad
visory Committee meetings over
the past two years.
The commission warned the
nation that it faces two choices
in dealing with race and pov
erty: “The nation may continue
to struggle with the problems
which inevitably arise when we
are divided into separate, unequ
al and alien groups—either tom
by violence or co-existing in an
uneasy, peace purchased at the
cost of repressive action.
“Or we can all together make
the commitment which will re
deem our promises and ideals
by opening the doors of the
ghetto so that Negroes and other
minority groups can become full
participants in American so
ciety, with a truly equal oppor
tunity for all.”
While the report offers no
concrete solutions — which oth
er commission reports have done
_it ’ -—blems
the
_ . has
often hot provided protection for
citizens within the ghetto, does
not treat them with dignity and
respect and views his role as that
of keeping Negroes ‘in line. . .
_“Inadequacy of sanitation
services . . . the absence of need
ed health and recreational facil
ities and the transportation serv
ices which would make them ac
cessible.
—“The merchant who sells in
ferior merchandise or who ex
ploits the economic dependence
of Negroes by providing credit
at exhorbitant rates. ...
_“The absentee landlord who
reduces services and allows prop
erty to deteriorate once Negroes
become tenants.
—“Welfare programs (which)
have been devised and adminis
tered in a manner which tends to
break up families and perpetu
ate dependency.
—“Union practices of discrim
ination which have not been
eliminated by civil rights laws
and government action.
—Education practices which
put “most Negro youngsters in
overcrowded and jr^§cnutjfei
schools which are, as a practical
matter, segregated by race and
by class, and which are stigma
tized by the community.”
Questions Program
The report strongly criticized
government attempts to provide
help in several areas:
—“Contrary to widespread be
lief, recent federal efforts to
make available more aid to in
ner-city schools have not appre
ciably affected the disparity be
tween the resources of these
schools and those of other schools
within the city and better fi
nanced suburban schools.
—“Government efforts to pro
vide (job) training have been
small in relationship to the need
and frequently have been poorly
coordinated or misdirected.
—“Despite its declared goal of
1 providing a decent home in a
suitable living environment for
all American families, the fed
eral government has not met the
housing needs of the great ma
jority of low and moderate in
come families and has often ac
quiesced in the decisions of lo
cal authorities to locate publicly
assisted housing only in tightly
restricted areas of the ghetto.
The commission report also at
tempted to dispel some common
assumptions made by whites:
—“It would be reassuring to
conclude that the situation of
Negroes in the slums is not dis
similar to that of past genera
tions of American immigrants
who lived in ghettoes but were
able to leave. . . . But the an
alogy is misleading and danger
ous.
“Negroes are not recent im
migrants to our shores, but
Americans of long standing.
They were oppressed not by for
eign governments but by a sys
tem of slavery supported by this
government and its people. The
legacy of slavery continues in
the form of racial segregation,
discrimination and prejudice.
Escape.from the ghetto for any
group is much more difficult in
the America of the 1960s than
it was one or two generations
ago. Society has become more
complex, and unskilled employ
ment or small business enter
prises no longer are meaningful
first steps up the ladder.
“These factors . . . have. beoh.
translated into barriers far more
Catholics 'Divorced'
FromComnumityActs
A nd Affairs, Charged
MILWAUKEE — (NC) — Cath
olic daymen as individuals “seem
to dicorce themselves almost tot
ally from community affairs,” the
director of the State University of
New York’s local government
studies center at Albany, N. Y.,
said here.
Joseph F. Zimmerman, address
ing the National Conference on
Government here, said rabbis and
Protestant ministers seem more
“social - action - conscious” than
Catholic pastors.
Principal subject of the con
ference was whether organized re
ligion should become more in
volved in solving community prob
lems. Some of the conference
participants said that in their
experience, the Catholic Church,
compared to other denominations,
has remained noticeably aloof to
community problems.
Zimmerman said he tends to
agree with a theory regarding
this lack of involvement — that
Protestants are more concerned
with the public good, while Cath
olics are more concerned with
“what’s in it for me?”
The Church, he said, can
not be concerned solely with
spiritual needs, because physi
cal conditions have a direct
bearing on the spiritual. He ad
mitted that bishops have issued
statements on social needs, but
added that “what positions the
bishops take in their statements
do not get down to the parish or
individual level”
Zimmerman suggested that lay
parish organizations concentrate
on more than the social in their
activities and meetings.
formidable than those which
were faced by the Irish, the Ital
ians, the Poles or the Jews in
this country.”
The commission also warned
the nation that while recent city
riots involved “relatively few
people,” the riots “are only the
violent manifestation^ of feelings
of anger and despair which are
much more widely shared.”
Leadership Cooperation
The report also warned that
the failure of governmental
agencies on all levels to respond
to the efforts of moderate Ne
gro leaders “is causing increasing
numbers of Negroes to despair
of moderate methods and of
moderate leadership and to fav
or a separatist course.”
“Even the most constructive
efforts by Negroes,” said the re
port, are not likely to reduce
feelings of frustration and des
pair “until Americans generally
make a massive commitment to
strike at the underlying causes
—poverty and segregation.”
Chinese Priest Reported
Deed In Prison Comp
Hong Kong — (NC) — A
Chinese priest twice imprisoned
by Red China Communists, has
died, presumably in a labor camp,
the Mary knoll Fathers here have
been told.
The priest, Father Paul Lam
Kwok, was formerly vicar gen
eral of the Kaying diocese
in Kwantung province, the see of
the late U.S.-born Bishop Francis
X. Ford, M.M.
NORTH CAROLINA CATHOLIC
Weekly Newspaper
for Raleigh Diocese
Second Class postage paid at Hunting
ton, Indiana.
Entered at the Post Office in Hunting
ton, Indiana, U.S.A. at the rate of
postage provided for in Section 1103 of
the United States Act of October 3,
1912 and of February 28, 1925.
Editor
Rev. Frederick A. Koch
Address: Bos 9503
Raleigh, N. C. 27603
Tel. 919-833-5295
Oecember3,1967