By Marie Mulvenna

Thirty-five U.S. Bishops gathered at the Abbey of Our lady of the Holy Spirit in Conyers last week for a three-day workshop on social development, sponsored by the United States Catholic Conference.

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan welcomed the group which convened at the local Trappist monastery to review the major social problems in modern society. Other Atlantans taking part in the session were Fr. Jake Bollmer, director of social services for the archdiocese, Fr. Tony Morris, director of social services for the archdiocese, Fr. Tony Morris, director of the Georgia Catholic Conference, and Clint Rodgers, chairman of the Catholic Social Services board.

At the opening session, the only session open to the press, the bishops and speakers discussed rural/urban and farm/city relations, with specific attention paid to problems germane to the diocese of the bishops attending.

Bishop Raymond J. Gallagher, chairman of the committee on social development of the U.S.C.C., opened the gathering with a review of the purposes of the organization, which holds regional conferences throughout the country to discuss problems pertinent to those areas and problems facing the country as a whole. Bishop Gallagher stated the bishops must respond in a concrete way to the necessity of being constantly familiar with the changing scene, adding that it was a necessity that the leadership role be assumed and daily implemented in the dioceses. He termed it imperative that there be leadership “which will enable us in the name of the Church to provide an effective antidote to the evils around us.”

Central issues of social development were presented by John E. Cosgrove, director of the department of social development of the U.S.C.C. Cosgrove highlighted the problems of rural life including the growing trend to ownership of farms by large corporations, the exodus from farming areas and corresponding influx into urban sections which now have 70% of Americans crowded into 2% of the nation’s land mass. He also pinpointed personal issues such as the lack of medical and legal services , problems which he state must be dealt with. Cosgrove also briefly discussed the problems surrounding unemployment, a subject on which he stated, “I do not see substantial improvement in the next six months.” He spoke of racism, which he termed “the antithesis of the ideal of the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God.” He spoke too of family life, which he said was threatened on all sides by pressures concerning family limitation, birth control, abortion and sterilization.

Cosgrove told the assembled bishops: “We have the resources and the know-how, the religious tradition and political framework to meet the social problems, even of today’s dimensions. We may lack the will. To mobilize the will of the country may be the unique service which must be rendered by the people of God, this year and this decade, to seek social justice.”

Fr. John McRaith, co-director of the rural life division of the U.S.C.C., briefly discussed the rural problems of the nation, stating that 12 million people are poor in rural America compared to 8 million in the inner city, a fact he felt was partly due to the conglomerate acquisition of farming lands.

The urban dimension of the workshop was presented by Clint Rodgers, newly named director of the state office O.E.O. Rodgers said one of the most crucial issues was the influx into larger cities and the national outcry for more resources. He outlined the problems of taxation, revenue sharing (which he opposed), training of work forces, the emergence of black political strength and area planning and development (which he termed a failure). Rodgers wound up his presentation with a strong pleas that “the Church must put its mouth where its money is” in coping with the current problems besetting society.

A number of the bishops participating in the workshop echoed the problem of large numbers of families in their respective dioceses leaving rural areas and moving into cities. Opinions were voiced that government had spent billions on the large farmer and next to nothing on the small farmer. The bishops discussed the need for getting proper and qualified people into the effective planning positions and the need for the Church to speak out when something is wrong or immoral.