The Jesuits, as we know from the example of Father Hein at our retreat house, come equipped with a diversity of skills. Perhaps one of the most versatile of our times was John LaFarge, S. J., priest, editor, spokesman. He was both the cultured man among men and the tireless crusader for urgent causes, especially racial justice.

I participated in the second meeting of the John LaFarge Institute in New York this week. After April 26 -- Bishop Bernardin’s consecration and reception, the Sisters’ Congress -- a quiet scholarly day in the new America House looked like a pause for refreshment.

The subject, the participants and the mounting racial crisis made short work of that idea. We studied a prepared paper, discussed it in depth, argued warmly. The paper was entitled “Race Relations and Equal Rights.” The three major American faiths, the leading civil rights groups, plus men from labor and capital were represented - 23 in all - but in a personal rather than official manner.

The crisis was underlined by a sentence in the draft copy: “There is a sickness in our society which deprives some of its members of basic human dignity. It is a sickness of the moral order and needs to be ministered to by the people most capable of dealing with the moral ills of society.”

How Sick Are We?

The proceedings of the day go unpublicized, so that the freedom of the talk would not be inhibited. But it will do no harm to quote, without reference, some pertinent ideas. Pertinent for the whole nation, its leaders and citizens, for the Church, for the people of our Archdiocese of Atlanta: -

(1) “Racism is a blasphemy against the fundamental oneness and unity which the world and all its people derive from their Creator.”

(2) “Open churches” -- “It is not enough to desegregate; we must invite others to our worship.”

(3) “Religious bodies cannot speak of any real commitment to poverty-stricken people until they begin paying adequate wages.”

(4) The lives of civil rights workers in the South must be protected.

(5) “Negroes in the U.S. have never been given opportunities parallel to those enjoyed by European immigrants, and do not have them today.”

(6) “It will be difficult for religious groups to integrate their congregations until open housing becomes as much of a fact as open churches.”

(7) “A policeman arresting a young man for selling marijuana, numbers, or women, is not only preventing crime, but is, in fact, stopping that young man from earning a living.”

The Nation Needs A Conscience

Out of these snatches, it is hoped to publish a Preface to Justice, or a National Examination of Conscience, a summary-statement. Each of the great churches has frequently spoken out. At Chicago in January 1963, Catholics, Protestants and Jews joined in a conference and a statement on “Religion and Race.” Since that time religious men have continued to speak and to act.

But the poison still courses through the nation’s blood. In a score of areas, in most of our states, the venom boils. Selma was a victory. Watts was a setback, or should it be called “a summary,” an outcome of social and economic ills? If religious influence means anything to a nation, it means a conscience.

That was what Baynard Rustin, Dr. Benjamin Epstein, Bishop John Spence, Matthew Ahmann, AFL-CIO’s Norman Hill, Council of Churches’ Oscar Lee were talking about. Dr. Vivian Henderson of Clark College and I came from Atlanta.

I thought one of the wisest things said was this -- “We must not pit the ultimate against the immediate nor overlook the needs of today in favor of the programs of tomorrow.”

Paul J. Hallinan

Archbishop of Atlanta