By Stan Prochaska

Last summer a leading sociologist questioned whether churches can become successful instruments for change in the nation’s urban crisis because they are saddled by so many elements resistant to change.

He raised the question at a summer institute on the theology of racism and violence, held at the University of Detroit.

A group of concerned people in one Atlanta suburb have challenged the sociologist’s statement that institutions by their very nature are opposed to change and that the Christian church appears to be no exception.

An interfaith group, known as the Cobb County Interracial Council of Smyrna, is actively working to solve the underlying caused of prejudice, fear and related subjects.

It all started in June when members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Smyrna and residents of Rose Garden Hills, a Negro subdivision outside the city limits of Smyrna, got together to implement on a local basis “Project Summer Hope,” a program outlined by the American Lutheran Church.

Other churches became interested in improving race relations and the social lot of the disadvantaged in Cobb County. Today, the Council has members from several Smyrna area churches, including St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.

About 12 Catholics are “active” members of the Council -- with four holding elected positions -- and many others attend the meetings. Father Richard Morrow, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle, is a member of the Advisory Committee.

The Interracial Council is made up of a six-member Investigating Committee, a four member Communications and Publicity Committee, and Advisory Committee of clergy, and four study groups -- on education, employment, housing and religion.

The council and each of the study groups must be co-chaired by a Negro and a white person. The Investigating Committee and the Communications and Publicity Committee each must have equal representation by Negroes and whites.

One of the prime advocates and movers behind the organization is Thomas McNeal, former principal of the Negro Rose Garden Hill Elementary School and now assistant principal of New Junior High, Cobb County’s largest junior high school with more than 1,500 students. He was elected as the Negro co-chairman of the Council. The other co-chairman is O. McElhenney.

The entire Council meets once a month, generally on the first Tuesday of the month in the evening, with one of the Smyrna-area churches serving as the host. St. Thomas the Apostle Church hosted the “organizational” meeting in July when officers were elected, and the regular September meeting.

The committee and study groups generally meet at least once in between the regular meetings of the Council.

Although the Council was organized only about two months, it has swung “into action,” as evidenced by its last general meeting.

Members of the Council heard the Housing Study Group report on the poor housing conditions in the Davenport Street area (just outside the city limits of Smyrna).

A representative of the study group reported that apartments are needed in the area to alleviate the over-crowded homes and “shacks” in the area, but that this is impossible because of a lack of county, or city, sewage facilities. A charge was made that the area’s needs had been neglected for many years by the local governments.

Council co-chairmen McNeal and McElhenney ordered the Investigating Committee to check out the situation. They asked the committee to talk to county officials to find out why no sewage facilities are available to the area, including the Rose Garden Hills subdivision.

The Investigating Committee is to report back to the council at the next general meeting, which will be held one week before the general election.

The Education Study Group reported it was looking into a year-round “head start” program for two area schools, and was encouraging support for a free, private tutoring program for children from low-income families which had been started by a group of volunteers.

This study group got approval from the Council to send letters to all church-sponsored kindergarten schools, suggesting an “open-door” policy for children of all races and creeds. A questionnaire was to accompany the letter for each church pastor to fill out and return to the Education Study Group.

The Employment Study Group reported it had checked into some complaints by individuals and recommended to those with legitimate grievances to get in touch with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office in Atlanta.

Father Aloysius Clarke, administrator of the Atlanta Archdiocesan Office of Urban and Rural Concern, was a guest at the meeting and offered the invocation.

Father Morrow has been encouraging Catholics to take part in the Cobb County Interracial Council and its “ecumenical” activities, in order to involve the laity of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in helping solve social problems of the community.

Two Catholics are now co-chairmen of study groups -- Jerry Fries of the Housing Study Group and Angelo Caricari of the Religious Study Group.

Two St. Thomas parish members are on the six-member Investigating Committee -- Mary Ellen Fries and Victor Maxstead, Daisy Dial, employed by St. Thomas the Apostle Church, is one of the Negro members of the Investigating Committee.

Donald and Ann Thompson are Catholic members of the Education Study Group. Becky Jascomb, Deirdre Maxstead, Georgia Michel and Nancy Nolan are members of the Housing Study Group. Carrie Robinson is a member of the Religion Study Group.

As one member of St. Thomas’ parish was heard to remark: “This is Christ’s Church ‘involved and in action’ to help those less fortunate. The day of going to Sunday Mass and praying for an hour just isn’t enough -- it doesn’t solve our social problems.”

Another said, “We Catholics must work together with others in helping those who are about to lose faith in God out of desperation because their fellow Christians have ignored their plight for so long.”