By Leonard Teel

A 37-year-old white, Catholic priest has moved into one of Atlanta’s Negro sections and joined a 67-year-old black, Episcopal minister in a biracial, ecumenical mission.

At the corner of Fair and Raymond Sts., SW, the two ministers share the Canterbury-Newman House, serving the black students and the mixed faculty of the Atlanta University Center.

The first ecumenical service was celebrated on Ash Wednesday. In the small chapel, Catholic and Episcopal students were crossed with the ashes by the Catholic priest, the Rev. John G. Foley.

After the service, one of the Episcopalians, 21-year-old June Hamlette, said it did not matter to her whether the service was given by a Catholic or an Episcopalian.

“It doesn’t make any difference,” Miss Hamlette said as she was leaving the chapel. “The revolution in the Catholic Church is the same as in the Episcopalian.”

“You know,” she added, “you can find God in a Moslem church.” It was the spirit of ecumenism, of getting together, which prompted the cooperation between Rev. Foley and Rev. Warren Scott. They were introduced to each other for the first time last June when Rev. Foley was assigned to serve about 275 black Catholics in the Atlanta University Center.

“We were just discussing the whole work at the Atlanta University Center and the subject of working together and somehow it came out of that,” recalls Rev. Scott.

As a result, Rev. Foley closed the old Catholic Newman House and moved in Rev. Scott’s Canterbury House. “It’s a rare thing,” says Rev. Scott, “to find it combined. The ecumenical stance is a new stance ...This is the wave of the future.” In recent months, the two ministers have sponsored faculty luncheons at which black and white teachers have been brought together to hear speakers such as Vice Mayor Maynard Jackson and to discuss mutual interests.

“This is just to bring the faculty here and offer something that the University should be offering in the way of a place for them to gather and discuss, meet one another,” explains Rev. Foley.

Meanwhile, the Catholic-Episcopal effort has also been gradually extended toward the students. Their suggestions and ideas about shared services are still being sought.

Instead of living at Emory University as was the custom with other priests, Rev. Foley rents a small house behind the Canterbury-Newman House. There he entertains some students. He stores the Eucharistic hosts in his ice box because there is no sacristy in the chapel.

“I feel I’m getting along real well,” Rev. Foley says, “I’m just here...I’m not talking black power or leading demonstrations. They’ve pretty much accepted me now. As far as trusting me -- I don’t know.” To help him get aquatinted, Rev. Scott introduced the white priest to various black persons in the community.

After the Ash Wednesday evening service, four of the black students -- one Catholic and three Episcopalians -- paused on the patio outside the Canterbury-Newman House and talked about the service and their feelings about ecumenism.

“It was comfortable, relaxed,” said Judy Fair, 22.

“Almost too relaxed and comfortable,” replied 20-year-old Claude Woodruff. “You get the feeling that it’s almost too intimate with so few people shaking hands.”

“But I don’t think it really matters,” said June Hamlette, 21. “Church is an intimate thing -- to me!”

“You go to church to enjoy yourself,” said Claudia Williams, 22. “We’re in the world. We’re not aside it. We’re right here with all the nitty-gritty around us.”

The ecumenical effort of the Canterbury-Newman House is only beginning, Rev. Foley points out. The two ministers plan to cooperate in various programs, such as the ecumenical service, music, scripture, talk.

But they stop short of sharing communion of the Eucharist.

“We’re not talking about that (communion) yet,” Rev. Scott says. “It’s very difficult to go ahead of your church’s position on some things.” “This is the time -- Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent - -when we feel we could really draw closer together,” Rev. Scott adds.

And Rev. Foley, one white man among many blacks, is looking to the future. “If this works out - and it seems like it is working out - perhaps if the Episcopals wanted to build, we could perhaps share something.” Rev. Foley summed up his purpose at the Canterbury-Newman House: “I’m here trying to primarily serve the pastoral needs of the Catholic students...then to work with Father Scott in an ecumenical atmosphere to serve the needs of the whole community.”