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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
9
TRIBUTES TO MR. FARRELL
One of the last letters Mr. Farrell wrote was in answer to a lawyer who
had written about “beginning to go down into the shadows and valleys where I
at times feel more lonely than words can express.” To this Mr. Farrell re
plied:
“When we face the West, there is no room for discouragement. The Master
Painter has put as much real beauty in the crimsons of the sunset as in the pinks
of the dawn.”
By Rt. Rev. Benjamin J. Keiley, Bishop of Savannah.
(From The Morning Star, New Orleans.)
The Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia has
met its first and what will be its greatest loss. James
J. Farrell, of the Publicity Department, died suddenly
on Wednesday morning, December 1 5th, at his home
in Augusta.
At a time when bigotry and intolerance were doing
incalculable harm in Georgia, when the legislature
had passed the Convent Inspection bill, and when fur
ther attacks on our religion were being considered by
the ignorant and fanatical bigots of this state, James
Farrell conceived the idea which resulted in the for
mation of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia.
We all saw the need; he thought of the
remedy. There were not 20,000 Catholics in
the entire state, whose population was nearly
three million. There was nothing to guide him,
as such an organization was entirely new.
Mr. Farrell met publicity with publicity. He
first selected one congressional district, calling
on all persons who desired correct information
about the Catholic Church to apply to the Lay
men’s Association. Then, with the aid of a
press clipping bureau, he secured every at
tack made on the Church by the papers in
the district and replied to them in a quiet,
courteous way. If the paper published his
reply, he sent thanks; if they did not he wrote
to the people of the county telling them of
the unfairness of the editor who attacked and
would not print the defense. He followed this
method in every congressional district in Geor
gia until there were only two papers which
continued these attacks, one of them being a
so-called religious (!) newspaper.
The Laymen’s Association work will, of
course, go on, for I am firmly persuaded that
it is God’s work. But his splendid capacity,
his untiring zeal, his boundless good nature,
his marvelous versatility, the directness of
words, his accurate information and never-
ceasing gentleness of expression; these I can
not hope to find realized in one man.
Brooklyn Resolutions.
At the first meeting of the Committee for the Dis
semination of Catholic Truth and the Distribution of
Catholic Literature, the following resolution was
moved by Joseph P. McMahon, seconded by James B.
McGarvey, and passed unanimously:
Whereas this Committee, at its inception,
learned with extreme regret that J. J. Farrell,
of the National Catholic VC^elfare Council, De
partment of Publicity and Literature, whom
we expected to be in our midst this evening
and tell us of the beautiful and practical work
perfected by the Catholic Laymen’s Associa
tion of Georgia, was suddenly called to his
eternal reward after a very brief illhess.
“Be it hereby resolved, That one of our first
actions tonight is to record our deep sorrow
over the loss the Catholic Church has sus
tained in Mr. Farrell’s early death, and to con
vey to his bereaved family, through his sister,
Miss Mary Farrell, 96 Sterling Place, Brook
lyn, and to the National Catholic Welfare
Council our sincere sympathy and condo
lence.”
Meeting held January 4th, 1921, at Interna
tional Catholic Truth Society Building,. 407
Bergen Street, Brooklyn.
JAMES B. McGARVEY, President.
305 Broadway, N. Y. C.
JOSEPH P. McMAHON, Secretary,
* 266 West 28th St., N. Y. C.
The Michigan State Council, Knights of Columbus,
through its state deputy, Ernest A. O’Brien; the Sa
cred Heart Benevolent Society, of Augusta, through
its secretary, Mrs. R. C. Brittingham; the local coun
cils of the Knights of Columbus in Georgia, and many
other organizations also have expressed their sym
pathy to the family of Mr. Farrell and to the Catholic
Laymen’s Association because of Mr. Farrell’s un
timely death.
There are more than 900 students enrolled in the
Paris Catholic Institute, one of the centers of higher
Catholic education in France. Two hundred of the
students are young women. There are nearly 300
law students, 150 studying philosophy, 100 science,
60 political economy, and 40 theology and canon
law.
The late Bishop Beaven, of Springfield, Mass., con
secrated 28 years ago, built, besides hospitals and
other charitable organizations, 65 parochial schools
and 80 churches during his Episcopate. Bishop
Beaven established every parish except two now ex
isting in the city of Springfield.
The Golden Book of the Clergy of France contains
the names of 3,276 priests who died on the field dur
ing the war, and 8,000 more who were decorated with
the War Cross.