Here are some highlights of Archbishop Hallinan’s remarks to the Atlanta Press Club:

--“Our church has had a long and sometimes tortured record in its custody of the truth. When the apostles lived, they were witnesses on-the-scene and they wrote and spoke what they saw. But persecution brought the discipline of the secret so that enemies could not assault the tiny Christian gatherings.

--“Years ago, religion was exiled to the church page just before the want ads. “Time” and “Newsweek” still stick to rigid departmentalization and religion usually ends up between show business and modern living. This is not the newsman’s fault. It is our own. In far too many churches, worship has not been linked to daily life, and the Gospel has not been related to the poor, the deprived and the lonely anonymous men and women of our city streets.

--“Before Vatican II, Pope John told Catholic journalists to be ready to ‘defend and help defend truth, justice, honesty even before religion.’”

--“These are not easy days for the Church. Our joy in associating more freely with our Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish brethren is offset by the infidelity of our own priests. It is still news when a priest who has tired of his celibacy, and having released himself from his fidelity to a solemn, mature promise, walks out and gets married. First he calls on a license bureau and then calls a press conference. Then he writes for “Look,” ghostwrites a book about himself, and begins to dream about the possible movie rights and royalties.’

--“I know we must fight big crime and petty misdemeanors, but I cannot get much aroused about crazy Yankees who walk like little lambs into Georgia’s clip joints, or the local responsible citizens, who like St. Paul, take a ‘little wine for their stomach’s sake.’

--“I think that rags worn in our slums are far worse than the mini-skirts allegedly worn in the statehouse.

--“Morality is no cafeteria where everyone can select the vice of his choice. It is a full dinner table where the meat and potatoes are the food of the good life, and the salad dressing and frosting on the cake are extras that you eat at your own peril.’