By Father James Maciejewski

In a free-wheeling discussion with a biracial group of about 30 Catholic and Protestant ministers, former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen praised the leaders of the Catholic Church in Georgia for their help in speeding the progress of the civil rights movement during his years as mayor.

But he stressed that this assistance and sympathy did not extend from top to bottom: "In the Catholic faith, great leadership came from the top. The average Catholic was not as tolerant, not as understanding. Archbishop Hallinan turned the thinking around."

Allen, who was mayor of Atlanta from 1962 until 1970, said that only among Atlanta Jews was there unified and solid support for black civil rights. "Members of the Jewish faith, rabbis and synagogue members wholeheartedly supported the rights of black people," he said.

The record of the Protestant churches was not nearly as good, Allen added. "The Protestant churches lost their greatest opportunity when they failed to get involved in the civil rights movement. They were more a deterrent than an aid. There was some support from the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, but the Baptists and Methodists were far less tolerant."

The forum for the former mayor's remarks was the second in a series of five seminars presented by the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The seminars are being held at Christ the King Cathedral Center on successive Tuesdays, with the Archdiocesan Senate of Priests acting as host.

Mayor Allen was asked to assess the current state of black civil rights in the city. He expressed optimism because of the "high caliber of leadership that black people have elected to office." He said that the black officials elected in recent years were at least as good, and probably better, than the white office holders they replaced.

Asked to explain, the former mayor responded, "Black people elect their best people to office; whites do not."