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10 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA GEORGIA’S LAY APOSTOLATE AND NATIONAL CATHOLIC PRESS MONTH By Rt. Rev. Benjamin J. Keil ey, D.D., Bishop of Savannah. Four years ago the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia was formed in Macon. The Association, I believe, owes its creation to the late James J. Far rell. Every Catholic in Georgia had seen and la mented the increasing tide of intolerance and bigotry in this State, and 1 suppose many of us had often wondered how or when it would cease. Mr. Farrell saw a way, and at the meeting in Macon he proposed and afterwards launched his pub licity idea. The press was attacking us and poison ing the minds of many thousands by false statements of our doctrines and utterly erroneous accounts of our faith and practices. The thing to do was to combat this by publishing correct statements of our teaching and promptly answering every attack made upon us. The result has abundantly shown the soundness of his position. All of us have come to the recognition of the value of the press in this matter. The day and opportunity of the Catholic Layman has come. For entirely too long a time have Catholics been con tent with the role of a silent partner in the missionary work of the Church of God. For too long a time have the laity thought that one of the uses of the sanctuary railing was to divide the teacher from the taught, and that to the priest alone was assigned the duty of telling the world the message given by Christ to the Church. It ought to have been apparent to all that the greatest factor after all in conversion was the patent fact of the good Christian life of a layman. We of the clergy felt and knew that our influence among the Protestants in matters of faith was very much lessened by the fact that we were priests. They looked on us with suspicion and positive distrust. As a matter of fact I have not the slightest doubt that the great success which the Catholic Laymen’s Asso ciation has met has been mainly due to the fact that it was composed of laymen. We have as active and devoted a clergy in this State as can be found in any Diocese of the United States. They preach the Word of God and explain the doc trines of the Church and answer the many objections brought against the Church. Possibly from seventy- five to five hundred persons hear these discourses. A paper which contains open or veiled attacks on the Church is read by thousands. I do not think the press of Georgia is better or worse than the press of other localities. And yet for ten years past there has been a persistent, a mendacious attack on the Catholic Church and a gross misrepresentation of her doctrines and villification of her priesthood, and the Legislature of this State wantonly insulted us by in nuendo and directly, assailing the character of the purest women in the world—Catholic Sisters. And yet there was only one paper in Georgia which dared to defend us, or said a word in protest against actions which directly tended to division and strife by attack on the religious belief of many citizens of Georgia. Had there been then one Catholic paper in Georgia, what a good it could have effected! The Lay Apostolate is with us. Let us give glad welcome to the Apostolate of the Press. A little band of devoted Catholic women in the Cathedral Parish have formed themselves into a Missionary Society to help our priests on the missions, and wisely have selected as one of the means to this end the sending of Catholic papers to the scattered members of the flock living in the country districts of Georgia. Our Catholic Laymen’s Association has generously offered to send these papers to the addresses furnished. There can be no doubt of the great good which will result from this work. There is no force which can be compared for in fluence with the press. If bad its effects are enor mous. If indifferent to all religious questions its in fluence for evil is likewise deplorable. Here is a great work for the Laymen’s Apostolate—the Apos tolate of the Press. Every Catholic family should take a Catholic paper, and after reading it, give it to some Protestant neigh bor. We would warn an utter stranger against a spring from which we saw him about to drink if we knew that the water was polluted and poisonous, and direct him to one whose water was sweet, wholesome and healthful. There is a deadly poison to immortal souls in many papers, while others are extremely dangerous on account of the way in which they mis represent the truth. The Catholic press is the pure and undefiled well whence we can draw the pure and health giving truths of salvation. Every Catholic in Georgia should take The Bulletin, the monthly organ of the Laymen’s Association of Georgia—an instructive paper which deals with Catholic doings in Georgia and outside the State. Nor should its circulation stop in Georgia. Our Catholic brethren throughout the Union have shown a great interest in our Laymen’s Association and its splendid effective work. They have written us most encouraging letters. The work is still to be carried on and there is hardly a better way for our fellow Catholics outside Georgia to lend aid than by sub scribing to the paper published by the Laymen’s Association. By this means they will keep the work going. It is not a Georgia work. It is a Catholic, and should appeal to all Catholics. Cardinal Gibbons has addressed a letter to the heads of all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, approving the savings movement fostered by the United States Treasury. He says no greater service can be rendered the children of the country than to teach them to develope habits of thrift.