Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

4 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA FORMER GEORGIA MINISTER TELLS WHY HL JOINED SOCIETY OF JESUS By F. X. FARMER, S.J. This is the second of a series of articles on the conversion of Rev. Mr. F. X. Farmer, a former Methodist missionary in China, a native of Georgia, and now a student for the priesthood in the Jesuit Novitiate at Hastings, England, as told by Mr. Farmer himself in The Missionary, the editor of which has granted The Bulletin permission to reproduce it. The account was sent to Bishop Keiley, of Savannah, by its author. It tells of the early life of Mr. Farmer, who was born in Conyers, Ga., October 14, 1877. Even as a child he was very religious, due in large part to the influence of his mother, who is still living, an earnest, devout Christian, and still a member of the Methodist Church. The future Methodist and Jesuit missionary early decided on a life of service to God. He grad uated from Emory University with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1898 while Dr. Candler, now Methodist Bishop of Atlanta, was president. His father, who was moderately wealthy, wished him to enter one of the professions, and he did include lectures on architectural drawing in his college course. The following installment tells of his final decision regarding his life’s work. Now, the grace of God so illuminated my mind and filled my heart with love for Christ Our Lord, that I began to see that I could never consent to give myself to a secular profession. I had been redeemed, and at what price! Nothing less than the Blood of the Son of God had been poured out for my ransom. After such love on His part, how could I ever be content not to give him soul, body, and all my time, my whole life? I also read the Holy Scriptures with avidity, and prayer became the delight and consola tion of my life. Christ became the companion of my inner life, and each day after the duties of school were over, I would seek a time and place of quiet for prayer and meditation on Divine things. So real was He to me and so great my joy to be thus able to talk to Him, I arose sometimes at night to com mune with Him. The pastor at that time of the Methodist Church in Covington was the Rev. J. A. Timmerman, a true and dear friend. He, knowing how profoundly I had been moved during the recent revival, took a deep interest in my spiritual welfare and did what he could to foster in me an intense spiritual life. He had a splendid library, consisting of many choice religious books, and these I devoured. The perusal of such a book as Baxter’s “Saint’s Rest” lifted me so above this world that I longed to depart and be with those blessed ones who behold Christ face to face and enjoy eternal bliss. 1 had become fully awake to the truth that this present life is transient and but a preparation for eternity, and that the man who neglects the salvation of his soul is mad. As time went on, more and more did I feel that I could never enter a secular call ing, howsoever good it might be. For God in His great goodness had caused me to taste the joy of Heavenly things “and the powers of the World to Come,” and consequently nothing of earth could ever again satisfy me. Christ had become the center of all my being—His interests were mine, His Kingdom mine, and He my Glorious King. About this time a friend gave me a little book called “Kept for the Master’s Use,” which treated of personal consecration to the Lord of all the powers of body and mind, in order that He might use them for His Glory and the salvation of souls. 1 was so determined to be all His, that I wrote out a form of consecration by which I gave myself irrevocably to Him. As I now look back over the intervening years, I thank God that I have never retracted it for a mo ment; and if there has been another deeper and more (Continued on Page 13.) WAR RECORD OF GEORGIA CATHOLICS. Washington, D. C.— Catholics of Georgia gave to the American forces during the world war 18 per cent more men than their quota according to population. This fact is revealed in a careful tabulation which D. J. Ryan, Direc tor of the Historical Records Department of the National Catholic Welfare Council has just made of the statistics gathered from twenty of the twenty-three parishes of the State. Complete records, it is expected, will improve the showing. Official figures from the War Department credit Georgia with having furnished a total of 102,786 men to the various branches of the military and naval service. Of this number, ac cording to the information received by the His torical Records Department, 853 were Cath olics. The federal census of 1910 gave Georgia a population of 2,609,121. The population of the State in 1920 was officially reported as 2,894,683. Adding to the figures for 1910 eight-tenths of the difference between the pop ulation for that yjear and the total for 1 920 would indicate a population of 2,757,571 for 1918. The Catholic population in 1 9 1 8, as com piled for the official Catholic Directory, pre pared in the autumn of 1918 and published early in 1919, was 19,400. Had the Catholics furnished but 723 men to the service, they would have contributed their just proportion, according to these figures. In stead, they gave a total of 855 men, and the returns thus far are admittedly incomplete. Forty-three of these Catholic soldiers lost their lives in the conflict. In addition to cont:ibuting to the ranks of the army and the navy the Catholics of Georgia were generous in their financial support of the government and the different welfare and civic organizations which had a part in serving the men in uniform. It is recorded by the Historical Records De partment, which is making an exhaustive com pilation and an analysis of the official reports, that the Catholics represented about one-third of the total armed forces of the United States, and that approximately 20 per cent of the men who died in the service were of the Catholic faith. (N. C. W. C. News Service.)