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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
WHAT DO GEORGIA CATHOLICS NEED MOST?
By MARY HELEN HYNES
This question which seems so very simple is really
one that requires careful thought in answering. In
contemplating any step of progress we must consider
where we stand at present, and from whence we came;
for these considerations will lend perspective to the
picture of the ideal which we are striving to accom-
plish.
The Catholics of Georgia have made great strides
of progress in the past four years, but this is no
reason why we can afford to rest content. To do so
would be to court disaster. We must continue to
move forward.
One great step of progress made by the Catholic
Laymen’s Associations last year was in calling into
the ranks of the active Workers the woman power of
the state. It is, therefore, logical to believe that the
responsibility for the next step of progress rests upon
the women. The question is: What should that
step be?
Our parochial schools are being brought to the
highest plane of accomplishment by the. untiring ef
forts of our sisterhoods, and I believe that we are
doing the maximum of educational work that it is
necessary or advisable for us to attempt at the present
time.
Our hospitals, too, under the efficient management
of a religious order, are acknowledged to be superior
institutions.
But what are our lay women doing? Through
their club activities in the State Federation they have
gained the respect of the other women of the state,
and they have learned the definite value of co-opera
tion and team work and it is here that we find the
starting point for our new work!
The crying need of the time is—organized recrea
tional activities under Catholic auspices.
The old adage: “All work and no play makes
Jack a dull boy,” is full of truth. It applies also to a
girl and this is what we can not have. There is no
reason why a woman should be forced to be dull
through lack of facilities to give vent to the play in
stinct which Nature has provided as a safeguard to
health and morality.
Many persons deplore the lowered standards of the
youth of today, and gloomily predict that they are
bound on a downward path.
Men’s standards are what women demand that they
shall be; and if the girls of today have set lower
standards the fault is not all theirs, but is in part to
be found in the conditions that surround their train
ing.
If a pendulum while swinging is grasped arid held
to one side, when it is released it will swing to the
opposite side more violently than ever. So it is with
present conditions. Force applied from without will
only aggravate the evil we seek to remedy. We must
supply a force within that will control and regulate
if the effect is to be lasting. Much of this force can
be developed through the proper direction of the play
instinct.
The hours of the day spent in school are com
paratively few. What does the child do with the
free hours? How and what does she play? Is the
play constructive or destructive of health and body
and soul?
Then the school years are practically few, and after
they are over what facilities for recreation do we
provide? We all theoretically admit that women as
mothers of the race should have every opportunity
to develop and retain purity of mind and soul and
health of body, and yet do we do everything to pro
vide such opportunities? I am afraid this hris been
one of our greatest lacks.
We must have idealists to see the vision, but we
must make the ideal practical before we achieve suc
cess. In providing an organized recreational center
it should be definitely planned and put upon sound
financial basis, so that trained workers might be en
gaged. This work is, 1 feel, the work ahead for our
Catholic lay women. They know the social condi
tions and realize the possibilities in such work, and
from the financial point of view—I have yet to know
the man who can make a dollar go as far and work
as efficiently as the average woman can.
There is no reason in the world why our Catholic
women here in Georgia should not have an organiza
tion devoted to providing recreational facilities. We
have never failed yet in anything we set out to do,
and the only reason we haven’t such an organization
today is because we have not until the present real
ized its need, so have not made a concerted effort in
that direction.
Some are skeptical of the success of a Catholic
Recreational Association, but there is no need for
such an attitude. The first essential, financing, may
be easily met by using business methods of organiza
tion, and we have many Catholic women in Georgia
who are admirably adapted to this phase of the work.
The second essential,. wise leadership, can be easily
met also, for in the ranks of our Catholic woman
hood of Georgia are to be found many who by nature,
education and experience are adapted to this work.
The third essential—enthusiasm among those who are
to benefit by the organization will be easily achieved
by wise leadership that will use ingenuity in provid
ing recreational activities that will be beneficial and
at the same time appeal to the varied tastes of our
Catholic young people.
The smallest Diocese in the United States is that
of Baker City, which has 25 priests, 53 churches, 6
schools, 1,03 7 pupils and 6,817 Catholic popula
tion. The largest is, of course, New York, with 1,110
clergy, 391 churches, 260 schools, 93,000 pupils and
1,400,000 Catholic population.