One of the extras available to Atlanta newspaper readers is that our local columnists are so much better than the national purveyors of syndicated stuff. To mention just a few -- Ralph McGill, Celestine Sibley, Reese Cleghorn, Gene Patterson, Jack Spalding, Paul Hemphill, Hugh Park.

One of our favorites is Norman Shavin -- and not just because he so often finds Georgia Bulletin items worth using in his own column. Recently, he answered a letter from a New York friend who “sounded perturbed about our recent Georgia exercise in democracy.” In part, Mr. Shavin replied: “Are you planning to leave the state?” you ask. What for, Joe? Look, would you have all 350,000 leave the state? And let the balance pay double taxes? Where would the 350,000 go? Alabama? Mississippi? Chicago? Harlem?

“Georgia will survive if we are but patient, a virtue not many Americans possess. That’s one lesson from history: The thrust of it is toward human progress, despite the rocky road and detours.” “It’s still the ‘People’s Country,’ and it belongs to them. The weakness of democracy ultimately becomes its greatest strength - it is a system which rests on the will of the people.” They make mistakes; but they are also capable of grandeur.

“Tell your friends in New York that Georgia remains a place where hundreds of thousands of persons will strive to live in dignity, in peace, in mutual trust come what may.” “No man has a mandate to halt the historical thrust of the divine instincts in human beings.” Our comment: Amen!

*Ecumenical Advance

Wall St. Journal recently reported a young man of eight who insisted on helping a nun across a busy intersection. Upon arrival, the sister thanked him for his courtesy and chivalry.

The boy, not a Catholic, answered brightly: “That’s o.k. Any friend of Batman is a friend of mine.”

*Liturgical Front

At a recent parish discussion about Mass celebrated in private homes, the pastor mentioned a letter he had received from one of the resistance movements. She protested, “It’s ridiculous. It is pagan!”

A well-read parishioner who knew that Mass had begun, not in Churches but in private homes, in the time of Christ and His Apostles, had this comment: “She’s wrong. The practice isn’t pagan at all. It’s just ridiculous.” *Monastic Frontier

At Conyers, where the monks live a full life of work, prayer, thought, study and worship, silence is the order of the day. There could be many reasons why healthy, vigorous, sound men choose this way of life.

A recent visitor of the accessible part of the monastery (the choir loft and the gift shop) asked the brother in the shop the name of the book he had under his arm. He showed her--Karl Stern’s The Flight from Woman.

Now she’s wondering -- is this part of the monastic required reading program? Could this Flight from Woman be the Flight to Silence?

We simply note this event and report this comment. We make none of our own. After all, the People of God are half women.

Paul J. Hallinan

Archbishop of Atlanta