By Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan

(Fourth In A Series)

The First Draft of the proposed Pastoral Letter, entitled “Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy,” was released at a press conference on November 10, 1984. It received wide publicity immediately and appears to have aroused a show of interest not only in the Catholic community but by many of our fellow-citizens in this country and even by persons from other nations.

One of the results has been a series of requests for talks and interviews to the members of the Bishops’ committee responsible for the drafting of the document. As a member of that committee, I have received a number of such requests. Some have come from organizations and institutions in other parts of our country. However, the Community of Atlanta, both the city and the archdiocese, has manifested a surprising amount of interest. As a result, I have been involved in a number of such activities.

They fall into three categories: appearances on the communications media such as radio and television, as well as newspaper articles and interviews; speaking engagements before parish groups, similar engagements before non-Catholic and secular organizations; and finally an amazing amount of mail addressed to me personally.

In the introduction to the First Draft of the Letter, the Bishops say: “In all that this Pastoral says, we are aware of our twofold roles as bishops: our primary task is to speak to our own community, but our vocation also calls us to address the larger community of this nation. We expect and welcome debate on these proposals and believe it will be beneficial if it is conducted with mutual respect.

The media experiences have been stimulating and interesting, even if demanding. During the Bishops’ Meeting in November, the members of the committee split up among them the requests for interviews. Mine consisted of three radio interviews, mainly by phone, plus one T.V. interview conducted in a studio in Washington with a moderator in New York. All were low key, question and answer sessions with no unduly critical attitudes or comments. In Atlanta on my return from the National Meeting, a Press Conference was held at the Chancery, rather sparsely attended and again low key and polite.

Almost, immediately, in the following week, there seemed to be a large surge of interest, and then were two sessions of live, radio talk shows, one with Tom Houck on WGST, for an hour and a half, another with Bob Mohan on WSB for an hour. The format of both was similar, questions and answers with the moderator, interrupted by periods of receiving and answering calls from persons who phoned in. The latter is a challenging experience. Most people who phone in appear to want to make a speech rather than ask a question, and a good percentage are critical or have negative reaction. My respect for T.V. personalities who do this for a living as a regular thing have increased. There is a great deal of pressure to lose your cool, to respond emotionally, or to lose your grip on the facts. While the hosts of the shows were objecting and penetrating in their questions, they were polite and helpful. Some of the phone calls were hostile, either to the bishops, or the contents of the Letter, or even to the Catholic Church. I also had the opportunity to do a filmed tape show, with Kalika Rogers of WSB. She was a pleasant, competent interviewer.

The local newspapers, in particular “The Atlanta Journal” and “The Atlanta Constitution,” have been notably cooperative in offering opportunities to publicize the Pastoral Letter. They have reported on the document itself, offered me the opportunity to write an article for the Sunday combined edition and had an interview by Michael Moss in the Saturday edition. While I had some hesitancy about the descriptive words in the interview, “Despite his reserve, the 70-year-old, bearlike archbishop rubs his hands together and chuckles sometimes”; or “a big balding man who answers a knock on the door of his office with a soft ‘Come’,” I thought the interview was objective, friendly and well done.

The appearances before local non-Catholic groups were welcome opportunities. A breakfast session with the “Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta” was a heart-warming, stimulating and supportive experience. The opportunity to address the members of the Atlanta Economics Club was most welcome. The audience, consisting of business economists, was attentive and their questions were perceptive. This was particularly reassuring since the newspaper announcement of the meeting had stated, “One of the authors of the letter, Archbishop Donnellan will go into a lions den, of sorts, when he addresses the Atlanta Economics Club.”

The workshops with the parish groups or at deanery meetings were helpful in response to the wishes of our Catholic people to be informed on the issues and to offer their own criticisms and suggestions. In general the groups were well disposed to the purpose of the Letter and felt instructed by the biblical and theological section. Some expressed concern that sufficient appreciation and pride in the accomplishments of the United States’ economy was not expressed. Others were critical of the practical measures suggested to relieve the condition of the poor and the unemployed.

Overall the reaction has been encouraging. It certainly indicated that one of the prime objects of the Letter was being achieved, namely to sensitize people to the plight of the poor and unemployed. The many suggestions offered indicated the achievement of another purpose, namely to interest all persons not only to overcome the wounds of injustice by acts of charity, but also to remove the causes of injustice through their actions as members of the community participating in the economy; and as a citizen through government, and the political process.