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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
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NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
By THE RT. REV. BENJ. J. KEILEY, D.D., BISHOP OF SAVANNAH.
I am asked to send a New Year’s Greeting to the
readers of The Bulletin, and I trust this includes all
the Catholics of Georgia.
On New Year’s Day every one you meet greets
you with the salutation: “Happy New Year! I
have often wondered what, if any, meaning they at
tach to this salutation. I suppose some say it seems
it is the customary thing to say, while others have in
a vague and general way some wish for your health
and temporal prosperity.
To me New Year’s Day always brings as it comes
memories of Christmas and the fragrance and echo
of Christmas memories yet cling to it. And with
Christmas always comes the story of Bethlehem’s
closed door, the cold and dreary cave, the wailing in
fant, the pure Mother, the rude shepherds and the
midnight strains of heavenly music as the Angel
Choirs chanted the Christmas Hymn of Glory to God
and Peace to Men. New Year’s has a message of an
ticipated mercies as it tells of the first shedding of
the Precious Blood. But though both feasts bring in
a sign of joy and peace, I can find nothing which
suggests health and temporal success.
I would not be understood as excluding these from
my New Year’s Greeting to you. But I would fain
hope as 1 greet you on New Year’s Day with a
Happy New Year, that the coming year may be rich
in spiritual blessings for all. I would wish that hand
in hand with the Little Child of Bethlehem you tread
the pathway of 1921 and never leave the guiding
hand which leads you.
There is a Book being written \Vhich is made up
of our daily lives, and our deeds are the scribes who
daily write therein. I know not how long may be
the chapter which is devoted to the life of each, but
I do know that when the last page is reached, that
day we die. I would hope for all that few blank
pages be found therein, but that every page be il
lumined with the golden record of good works. I
hope that the record for 1921 may show in every
parish a larger number of men approaching Holy
Communion, assisting at daily Mass and coming to
secure the blessing of Our Lord at Benediction. I
would wish to see a wider interest in the work of
the Church. I would desire to see every Catholic
always observant of the law of God a^d the precepts
of God’s Church, and ever obedient to the law of
the State and standing bravely for law and order and
opposing disorder and violence.
In a word, my New Year’s Greeting to all is that
they may always be loyal prudent Catholics. The
times are evil. Men are drifting away from the teach
ings of Christ. Many openly deny Him who brought
them. The only salvation for Country and State is
a return to Christ and His teachings. The only sure
guide is the Catholic Church.
May God bless you all and make you fervent
Catholics.
I had just written the last words of this New Year’s
Greeting when my telephone bell rang, and I took
hold of the receiver to hear the voice of the president
of the Laymen’s Association. He told me he had
news of a great sorrow—that Mr. Farrell had drop
ped dead.
I felt like tearing up my New Year’s Greetings; foi
what mockery it was to wish a Happy New Year
with many blessings to all the readers of The Bulletin,
when the Editor and founder of The Bulletin lay dead
in his Augusta home.
Mr. Farrell was in very truth the Catholic Lay
men’s Association. His tireless energy, his boundless
zeal, his remarkable knowledge of Catholic teaching,
his familiarity with newspaper work, his unfailing
courtesy and gentleness of manner; his grasp of the
situation in this State, and his boundless loyalty to
the Catholic Church, made him the ideal man for
the position he filled with such signal ability.
He was the embodiment of ideal Catholicity. In
every relation of life he was a man worthy of imita
tion and of highest praise.
May God give rest and peace to him and may
He give us one who can take up his work.
PRESIDENT RICE’S NEW YEAR’S GREETING
A few weeks ago our Publicity Manager, Mr. James
J. Farrell, sent out a circular asking the officers to
write a few words of New Year s Greeting for the
readers of The Bulletin, but instead of that, it is my
sad duty to officially inform the members of the As
sociation of his death, which occurred suddenly Wed
nesday, December 15, 1920. Next to his wife and
four little ones, his loss to the Catholics of Georgia is
greatest. To me his death is like one of my own, for
since the organization of our Association in 1916, I
have been thrown in daily touch with him in our
Laymen’s Work.
It is impossible to exaggerate the loss which our
Association and the Church in Georgia have sustained
by his sudden and untimely going away. Truly a
Prince and a great man has fallen in Israel. In culti
vation of intellect, depth and warmth of heart, in the
possession of wide and varied information, he was
excelled by few. We are told that there is no crisis
without its prophet and its leader, Almighty God will
give us ours.
The year 1921 promises to be the greatest year of
the Association. The progress of activities outlined
by Mr. Farrell before his death was the most compre
hensive and the most thorough that he had ever plan
ned. It will be carried on without interruption or
change. A meeting of the officers has been called for
January 9th, when the necessary steps will be taken
to insure its complete working out. The loss we suf
fer in his death is as severe as it was sudden; but God
in His goodness has spared him to us long enough for
the work to be set on a lasting and solid base. I,
therefore, greet the Members of the Association, as it
were, smiling through tears. And I pray, and feel
that you will join with me in the prayer, for that
great gift of God which the Angels from Heaven an
nounced in the Christmas Season gone—that splendid
Christmas goal of earth which our departed friend so
valiantly and tirelessly devoted his life to attain, and
we are organizing to help on—Peace to men of Good
Will.
P. H. Rice, State President.