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8 THE BULLETIN OE THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA THE BULLETIN The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia. Published Monthly by the Publicity Department, 409 Herald Building, Augusta, Georgia. Subscription Price—$2.00 Per Year VOL. II APRIL, 1921 No. 5 CARDINAL GIBBONS “The great leader and soldier, the great legislator, the far-visioned educator, the great patriot, the kindly, gentle old man.” It was His Grace, Archbishop John J. Glennon, of St. Louis, looking down from the pulpit in the Cathedral of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary on the bier of the fellow churchman whom he held so dearly, who painted this striking word picture of America’s Prince of the Church, the late James Cardinal Gibbons. Sixty years a Priest of God, fifty-two years a Bishop and over a third of a century a Prince of the Church, Cardinal Gibbons slipped into death and the arms of His Saviour on Holy Thursday. With his passing went not only a great prelate, but the churchman of the age; not only a patriot of the highest type, but an American institution. Sixty years ago, he whom we mourn ascended the altar, a gentle Priest, yet courageous in defending his beliefs; humble, but not so humble that he would not defend the weak against those in high places; radiant in his personality; a genial lover of his fellow-man; a devout believer in those great principles upon which our government is based. When his life’s work was over, when Heaven was lonesome and he was called home, he was the same humble, courageous, amiable, patriotic man as the simple Priest of nearly two-thirds of a century before. We called him “Our Cardinal,’’ but he was every body’s Cardinal. No American of our generation, with the possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt, has been the subject of so many characteristic anec dotes and human interest stories as he. He had a fol lowing among all classes, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic, the high and the lowly, the cultured and the simple, that made him the leading semi-public figure in the United States. There is no body of people that was not affected by his passing. Clergymen of all denominations paid tribute to him. The press, through its editorial col umns, told of the high place he held in the esteem of the American people. It was the President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, who paid the fol lowing tribute to him: “In common with all our people, I mourn the death of Cardinal Gibbons. His long and notable service to the country, and to the Church makes us all his debtors. He was ever ready to lend his encouragement to any movement for the benefit of his fellowman. He was the very finest type of citizen and churchman. It was my good fortune to know him per sonally, and I held him in the highest esteem and veneration. His death is a distinct loss to the country, but it brings to fuller appreciation a great and admirable life.’’ Similar tributes from Vice-President Coolidge, Sec retary of State Hughes, former Secretary of War Baker, Senators Lodge of Massachusetts, Reed of Mis souri, France of Maryland, Cummings of Iowa, Watson of Indiana, and dozens of others, including represen tatives of foreign nations poured into the Baltimore structure where he lived and which was so intimately connected with his life of accomplishment. Cardinal Gibbons was not the first Prince of the Church in America; he will not be the last. But until the work of the Church in America and elsewhere is over and the Recording Angel sounds his trumpet for the last judgment, America will know and love him as “The Cardinal.’’ Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. THE PRESIDENT’S APPEAL. In the March Bulletin you no doubt read the strong and timely appeal of our Rt. Rev. Bishop under the head of “Georgia’s Lay Apostolate and National Catholic Press Month,” urging upon the Catholics of Georgia to subscribe to The Bulletin, the monthly organ of the Laymen’s Association of Georgia. We have at least 20,000 Catholics in the State, and of this number only 1,900 have contributed to this work, showing conclusively that 1 8,000 or more are not represented in this great Apostolate work. Let me urge upon the officers of local Associa tions to call meetings at once to arrange in some way or by some means to reach those who have not con tributed to our work. Urge them to contribute or at least to subscribe to the Monthly Bulletin, which is only $2.00 per year. Catholics outside of Georgia recognize and appre ciate the work of our Association and are sending in substantial contributions, independent of their $2.00 subscriptions. As Georgia Catholics we should be proud of our Association, the only one of its kind in the history of the Church where Catholic men and women are banded together to dispel prejudice and to bring about a friendlier feeling between non-Catholics and their their Catholic brethren. (Signed) P. H. RICE, President. ARE CATHOLICS PATRIOTIC? An answer to the charge that Catholics are not good Americans may be found at the bottom of the second column on page 4 of this issue of The Bulletin. The “unpatriotic’’ Catholics of our State gave to the American forces during the World War 18 per cent more men than their quota according to popula tion.