The following questions and answers are based on an interview given by Archbishop Hallinan with Gerard E. Sherry, managing editor. The archbishop talks over the various facets of the Archdiocesan Expansion Program and sums up its goal.

Q. Archbishop, we talk of a “theme” for the Expansion Program, can you clarify this?

A. The theme of the expansion program, “The Place is Here, and The Time is Now,” is really more than a theme. It is a whole approach to the needs of a Catholicism growing and developing right in our midst. It’s the right place for this expansion. Northern Georgia and especially greater Atlanta are expanding. The right time is 1965, in a diocese nine years old, an archdiocese three years old, our needs and our resources coming together. Besides if there was ever a good time for the question, “When is the right time for a campaign?” It’s right now. Most Catholics and Americans are in an unequaled prosperity wave; jobs, salaries, homes, deposits and consumption have never been higher.

Q. As you know, there is always criticism of an alleged overemphasis on collecting money. While much of the criticism is uninformed, it is still present in parochial life. Do you ever feel embarrassed by it all?

A. I never feel embarrassed in studying, accounting for, interpreting, and asking for the funds the Church needs. St. Paul was quite honest and forthright about the subject of money. So are all housewives, insurance men, business executives, and Mr. Dillon, the Secretary of the Treasury. All we expect in a good pastor or bishop is that the spiritual is the essence. In money matters, he is the steward of his people’s minds; he must be competent and faithful -- in reporting the church’s needs, in asking the people for the needed resources.

Q. What do you think is the most vital part of the Expansion Program?

A. I think the single most vital step in the expansion is the Ecumenical Center in the Catholic Center for Lay Action. It grows out of Pope John’s and Pope Paul’s vision of an open Church, the trust of the Vatican Council to the world. The decree on Ecumenism is already history; the ground rules are coming. The great schema on “The Church in the Modern World” will be the work of this last 1965 session.

We must meanwhile start. Here in our area the ecumenical atmosphere is good. Instances of cooperation are multiplying. But after talking with other priests and Protestant and Jewish clergymen, the times seem to call for a place for the Catholic efforts to start, and a place to welcome those of other faiths. We will ask them to supply lists of good, definite works on their churches. We will supplement the books on the Catholic faith, and especially fine choices of ecumenical literature now appearing. It is intended to be a friendly, understanding sort of a center. Laymen of all faiths have told me how exciting the whole prospect is.

Q. Three of the projects envisioned can be glamorized with architectural drawings, purchased land and services to be rendered. What about the fourth project you have mentioned?

A. The fourth project is the hardest to visualize because it isn’t a “picturable project.” It is the High School Development Fund. It is of tremendous importance. Our people are calling for more Catholic high schools. Certainly the southern part of the greater Atlanta area needs this attention. Rome and Athens and other cities in the archdiocese will some day have their own schools.

Meanwhile, studies on population trends and pupil location must be made. The right property must be purchased, and zoning prepared. Residence for religious teaching communities must be planned. Lay teachers must be trained. These are all preliminary steps. The funds are needed now for this preparation; later will come the campaign to construct them. But it will be money better spent because this 1965 preparation has been taken in time, and economically.

Q. Why have you laid such emphasis on Project I - St. Joseph’s Village?

A. The high point of the Village for Dependent Children -- at least one that will probably deeply interest the whole community -- is the Program for Citizenship. These boys and girls are tomorrow’s citizens. By growing up in the democratic process; by a limited but real self-government; by their choice of perhaps a “mayor” and “council”, -- these young people will be given a chance to grow in citizenship, its responsibilities and duties. Many of them are children of creative talent, but their backgrounds have been against them.

This is our chance to provide a stimulant to a new and wider view of their future. It is an imaginative attempt to widen their horizons. There will be ups and downs, mistakes and disappointments. But, as these boys and girls put their trust in us, we must put our trust in them.

Q. Everyone knows of your great work and interest in the Newman Apostolate on the secular campus. What are the Archdiocesan commitments to this important work here in Northern Georgia?

A. Naturally the project at the University of Georgia is close to my heart because I worked in the college and university climate for eighteen years. Here we have many commitments -- in Atlanta, Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia State, Agnes Scott, Oglethorpe, the components of Atlanta University. And around the archdiocese, there are at least a dozen smaller colleges.

Athens is a name revered for learning and culture since the time of Pericles. But in Athens, Georgia, our own university is a great center in its own right. It is growing and it is achieving an academic excellence that will serve well both scholarship and the community.

Up there are more than 800 Catholic young men and women from all over the state and other parts of the United States. Many of them come from Atlanta and the cities our own archdiocese. By 1970 the number will probably be 2,000. The University provides the wide gamut of academic knowledge, learning and culture, the great tool of research and scholarship, the glory of asking questions, and opening minds to find answers.

The Catholic structure on the campus has pastoral responsibilities-- Mass and the Sacraments, our whole spiritual heritage. But it also has an intellectual task, incorporating into the general education the knowledge of God and the things of God.

In the Bishop John Lancaster Spalding Chapel, which will be a fine gem of liturgy and architecture, the pastoral work will be centered. The Newman Center, a library, classrooms, and a lounge will undertake the intellectual task. It is a thrilling prospect.

Q. In one of the previous questions we talked about the embarrassment of money. Some people in the archdiocese are asking why you have set a goal of $1,750,000 when you say the archdiocese needs $2,000,000?

A. I am confident that the campaign will meet our needs of $2,000,000 beyond our goal of $1,750,000. Our people understand the projects. They know that these are imperatives for the whole Archdiocese and they know that these are capital construction projects; they are not operational, nor are they basic parish units. They call for “gifts-in-sacrifice”, contributions beyond the ordinary. Many of our early gifts have set high sights -- $50,000, $30,000, $25,000. And the whole mood of the parishes seems to bear out that all of our people are ready to scale their own contributions, not to what others give, but to what the Church needs. The minimum goal was set at $1,750,000 to allow elbowroom for optimism. We hope it will grow to $2,000,000.

Q. Apart from the usual pledges to be given by individual families you have singled out for special mention, memorials, which the people can subscribe to. What is the purpose of this?

A. One of the most heartening signs is the request for memorials. It is a revered Christian tradition, of honorable intent and of family gratitude. In our campaign, there are all kinds of memorial gifts, of every size and amount. And already our people are asking that in sharing the cost and scope of those projects, family names, beloved deceased friends and others be remembered. We think this is a very heartfelt feeling. It will be an honor to associate these names with our vast undertaking.

Q. There has been talk over the past couple of years of another pressing need--that of a new central location of archdiocesan offices. I suppose this is a “special interest” question but what are your views on this matter?

A. There is no question that our administration setup needs modernization. As it is now, the Chancery, Tribunal and Georgia Bulletin are housed in the basement of the Cathedral. (They are very considerate landlords!) The Department of Education and Welfare are in two different places. It is inconvenient and inefficient.

Yet the great decision is always a question of priority. With dependent children in need, are the office and desk of the archbishop really more important? With education projects like the chapel and center at the University of Athens in the balance, can we argue for central convenience? The scope of our Center for Lay Action is so new and vital that one hesitates to put even administrative offices ahead.

First things first. Someday we will have the proper archdiocesan offices. Now we are planning a temporary move that will bring us together, increase efficiency and put the administration in a better setting. But for now, it’s children in need, youth in college, high school pupils of the future, and laymen in renewal. These must come first. Then will come other things.

Q. Archbishop could you give us a brief sum-up of the Expansion Campaign?

A. The 1965 Expansion Campaign is planned to support the Expansion Program. It is an imaginative thrust into the future of the Church. Every time that Georgia Catholics have perceived the Church’s needs, they have responded. Sometimes this has called for raw bravery; sometimes for wide understanding. Always, in a growing Church, it has called for a response in financial support.

The great difference in the Campaign is that the projects will serve us all. It is God’s work. We must all share in the cost.