By Rita McInerney

The first time Lou Erbs met Archbishop Paul Hallinan the churchman wore pajamas. He was the celebrity patient at St. Joseph Infirmary in downtown Atlanta and, despite his illness, was determined to introduce liturgical reforms approved in the early sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

Erbs, choir director at Our Lady of Assumption in 1964, was eager to serve on the Liturgical Commission the archbishop revived after receiving a letter from him dated July 16, 1964.

In his letter, Archbishop Hallinan spoke of the vital work the Church faced in preparing the people for the liturgical renewal.

“It is not the change in the rubrics or text; it is the change of heart that is our challenge. This means that our parishioners have grown in understanding what public worship means, in motivating themselves for it, and making it part of their daily lives, especially in the education of their children who will be our next generation,” the archbishop wrote.

The re-established commission met for the first time July 27 at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Main topics were the Liturgical Conference to be held in October, parish preparations for the changes, and the use of materials available.

The Liturgical Conference, held Oct. 22-25, 1964, at the cathedral, included five Masses in English and Latin and drew well-known Catholics including John Mannion, executive secretary of the National Liturgical Conference, and Mary Perkins Ryan, writer specializing in family and catechesis.

Erbs recalls Mrs. Ryan telling the assembly that “If we hear the Word in English, we’ll begin to hear it in our lives.”

A headline in the Oct. 24 Atlanta Constitution, “1,000 Hear Mass in English,” announced the success of the historic event.

In his book, “Paul J. Hallinan, First Archbishop of Atlanta,” Father Thomas J. Shelley said the archbishop found and outlet at home for some of the frustrations experienced in pressing for the liturgical reforms both in Rome and with some defiant members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Father Shelley quotes a letter Archbishop Hallinan wrote to Father Frederick McManus, professor of canon law at Catholic University. He mentions the newly constituted Liturgical Commission directed by a priest and composed of “five excellent laymen and three sisters. We published a Priest’s Guide and made it the official law of the archdiocese. Charleston and Savannah went in on it with us. Now we are working on sermon outlines, school preparation and parish organization programs. Our choir leaders are meeting regularly and a number of parishioners are working with the Course of Commentators and Lectors.”

Erbs became chairman of the Liturgical Commission in 1967 and served in that post until 1970. He came to know the archbishop as a pastoral leader with a charisma that drew people to him.

He knew firsthand Archbishop Hallinan’s loving concern when his wife Rose became ill with an ectopic pregnancy. As soon as the archbishop heard that she was a patient at St. Joseph’s, and “sick as he was, he went down to visit her,” Erbs recalled.

During Lent, Erbs said, “He was very much for Mass in the mall,” and would celebrate it in the auditorium at Lenox Square. Beforehand he would sit amid the Christmas decorations stored in the hall and hear confessions. Erbs, who worked nearby at the time, often served Mass for him.

Erbs was cantor at the archbishop’s funeral Mass after his death on March 27, 1968. He was 57 and widely hailed as an articulate and progressive spokesman for the American Catholic Church.

His legacy here, Erbs sees, is the involvement of the laity. “He talked about it, fostered it and lived it.”