By Gerard E. Sherry

Atlanta, GA -- Bishops and priests have an obligation “to educate our people in their responsibilities in human relations,” Bishop Coleman F. Carroll of Miami told the Southern Catholic Leaders Conference here.

This obligation, he added, “can be fulfilled in no more significant area than in the schools and in Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes.”

“It must be our steady concern,” he said, “to make sure that the minds and hearts of children are not formed merely with vague, abstract information regarding their duties to others. They must be helped to make the practical application of Christian truth to the conditions of their neighborhoods.” “They must learn from us that love of neighbor involves a struggle against discrimination, injustice and inequality. It will always be our responsibility to teach them how to see Christ in others and to make the law of love appear a reasonable and necessary expression of God’s will.” Diocesan newspapers should help in this task, he added, through “news stories which inform and not merely inflame, editorials which clarify our convictions and emphasize fundamental Christian trust regarding all God’s children, pictures which illustrate the problem as well as intensify the need of a remedy.”

But education is not all that is necessary, he said. “The bishop and the diocese have the further obligation to correct injustices in Catholic institutions.” And even more, “we ought to urge middle class Negroes who have had the benefit of a good education and some success in business to work more intensively for the betterment of the less fortunate of their race.” “The influence of the able Negroes in a community in encouraging others to persevere in education, to vote in every election, to take advantage of every opportunity to develop their native talents, to overcome listlessness and a lack of ambition, can be a major factor in awakening many of them oppressed to the new challenge and opportunity which awaits them.” Bishop Carroll emphasized that labor unions can play a tremendous role in the pursuit of justice for the Negro, but pointed out that many unions today “are not giving a fair chance to Negroes to learn and practice a trade or to obtain a responsible position.”

“Diocesan and religious leaders need to emphasize the moral obligation of the union to give equal opportunity to Negroes for job training and apprentice programs,” the Miami prelate said.

Discussion participation of priests and Religious in demonstrations, Bishop Carroll said: “I believe peaceful marches seeking to emphasize the nonviolent approach may be helpful to the cause in certain instances.”

“When done in conformity with the law and in respect for right order, such demonstrations can be an effective agent in arousing the conscience of the people and in persuading them of the seriousness of the struggle for justice,” he added.

“Other public demonstrations which involve conflict with the law and incite violent acts or interfere with the rights of other citizens take on the nature of coercion rather than persuasion, and usually do not accomplish the desired results,” Bishop Carroll said. He also quoted Pope Paul VI as deploring the increasing lack of respect for authority in the Church.

Another speaker, the mother general of the Sisters of Mercy of the Union, told the conference that Religious must be “alert to the demands of justice.”

Mother Mary Regina Cunningham said Religious “should be prepared to participate actively in programs that aim to protect the human rights of those deprived of such rights, but always within the framework of charity and justice.”

Those in the field of action must, she said, “realize that the heart of the race question is moral and religious. Individuals have been denied human rights and this is contrary to all the principles of Christianity. We might as well say that Christianity is on trial an we are the defendants...”

“Racial discrimination must be abolished. The in-service training of Religious for a better understanding of the grave social problems facing us today demands a new focus on the individual as a person and a shift of emphasis from ‘me’ to ‘we’.”

Father George F. O’Dea, S.S.J., superior general of the Josephite Fathers, declared that if the Negro is to fully understand the role of the Church, “he must see the life of Christ, the charity of Christ at work in every area of the Church’s life. Specifically, the Negro must have access in nondiscriminatory terms to all Catholic institutions -- to the churches, the schools, the hospitals, the parish and diocesan organizations; to the full participation in the life of the Church, not only in the inner life of grace, but also in the societal aspects of that life.” Father O’Dea said this ultimately means “inclusion in the normal administrative structure of the Church through the development of territorial parishes. Furthermore, the social conditions which inhibit normal Christian growth must be the object of the Church’s concern and action as part of our total spiritual commitment.”

Father O’Dea emphasized that separation of the races has developed patterns of thinking which have clouded the Christian ideal. The very practical problems resulting from the existence of the dual parish system have to be faced; the question of real estate, buildings, the going concern, overlapping territories, entrenched emotional commitment by both white and Negroes.”