By Rita McInerney

Bishop Emerson J. Moore, DD, auxiliary bishop of New York, paid tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his homily Sunday, Jan. 18, at the fourth annual Mass sponsored by the Commission for Black Catholic Concerns and the Office for Black Catholics of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The Mass honored the slain civil rights leader.

Bishop Moore, at the Mass in the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, said Dr. King, as a young man in the seminary, discovered in reading the works of the late Mahatma Gandhi a philosophy of nonviolence. He came to believe that this philosophy could change America as it had changed India.

Reading Gandhi, Bishop Moore said, showed Dr. King how to harness his anger and channel it into a positive force. The bishop said Dr. King discovered that "Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus into a positive social force." His reading taught King to love his enemies even if they beat him and killed him; his suffering would redeem those who beat him.

King, a shy, private man full of self-doubts and inner struggles, went on to become a fierce prophet, Bishop Moore told the congregation. He was the conscience of America who changed the face of the nation despite enormous odds. These odds included Southern racism, a more complex racism in the cities of the North, the FBI and divisive tactics of other civil rights leaders. But Dr. King succeeded in creating a radical movement whose work remains unfinished, Bishop Moore said.

The cycle of evil caught up with and destroyed the dreamer, Bishop Moore said. His assassination in April, 1968 took place on Holy Thursday and prompted a saddened Pope Paul VI to liken the deed to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Bishop Moore reminded his listeners to recommit themselves to the dream of being black and Catholic in America. But remember, he stressed, that when black churchmen talk about the religion in black people, "They're not talking about us." Three-quarters of the estimated 28 million blacks in the U.S. are churchgoers, but "they're going to Ebenezer, not the Shrine church. For all the ethnicity and pluralism in the Church, they don't mean us. The estimated one million black Catholics seem invisible in comparison to the white Catholics."

While the Church "has been and still is prejudiced," Bishop Moore continued, "black Catholics should play an ever increasing role in calling the Church to an awareness of her Catholicity." The differences in the Church in Eastern and Western Europe and in Latin America and North America do not cause the Church to lose her Catholicity, but to increase it. So, he added, the vision of the black leaders of the Church today cannot but enhance the Church.

If Martin Luther King, Jr., were alive today, the bishop asked, what would he see? The desperation of public schools and the struggle to maintain the Catholic alternative; a rising middle class and a rising underclass; two Atlantas, white and black; a need for affordable housing; idle young adults with inadequate knowledge of their faith, and a lack of community spirit and ecumenical resources, Bishop Moore suggested.

But also, the bishop added, he would urge the slain civil rights leader to look closer and see the special education of priests and sisters to the black communities, the exceptional mothers and fathers, the commitment of the archdiocese to the needs of the black community, more and more leadership in the pastoral life of the Church, shelters for the homeless, parish councils, and an appreciation for the risk taking in the Church's social teaching.

"And he would ask each of you to rededicate yourselves to looking deep within your own selves. Do not be afraid of anything for "I the Lord am with you.'"

In a brief interview before the liturgy, Bishop Moore said, "The Lord has not promised us an easy road" in reference to the incident in Forsyth County on Saturday, Jan. 17, when civil rights marchers were targets for stones, mud and epithets. In New York, he said, the Howard Beach incident has shown that racism and prejudice is in the hearts of people.

But the bishop would tell people "not to be discouraged, we have a long road ahead of us ... We feel that love and justice is right and we have to see that all phases of justice be present in the Church's life and teaching. The unfinished agenda, the dream of Dr. King is far from being realized."

People have got to be aware of the sin of racism, and priests have got to talk from the pulpit about the sin of racism, he said. Attitudes must be examined, more people have to examine their hearts to see if they are really Christian.

In predominantly Catholic Howard Beach, where a group of white youths attacked three black men, one of whom died when hit by a car in trying to escape from the attackers, Bishop Moore said the attitudes were formed in the homes. "Parents have a tremendous responsibility to instill the proper attitude," he said. "We have to preach this."

A combined choir made up of choir members from parishes comprising the Commission for Black Catholic Concerns sang during the Mass. Michael Malcolm, of St. Anthony's, led the responsorial psalm, "Thank You Lord," Janis Griffin, of Our Lady of Lourdes, was soloist for "If I Can Help Somebody," and Vicky Jackson, choir director at St. Anthony's sang the Offertory meditation, "Peace Be Still."

A reception followed the Mass at Central Presbyterian Church.

A Mass in honor of Dr. King was also offered on Jan. 19 at Sacred Heart Church just prior to a downtown Atlanta parade in his honor.