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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
9
THE QUARTER’S WORK
Reports are ordinarily made at conventions, but it
is a long time between conventions, as some one
said about something else some time ago, and the
Publicity Director feels the members of the Laymen’s
Association should at least be given an idea of the
work being done by his department.
The advertising started by Mr. Farrell has been
continued. Ads have been published in the papers
of ten counties, including Fulton and Bibb, the county
seats of which are Atlanta and Macon. During March
1 18 inquiries were received, the largest number in
many months. There was not an abusive letter in
the batch. One man wrote he was anti-Catholic.
The questions he asked proved he was telling the
truth, but even he was willing and anxious to know
the other side.
In January 3,363 pieces of literature were distrib
uted, including The Bulletin, about 300 more than
the previous month. The February record was 3,088.
The literature sent out during March numbered
16,606 pieces. Included in this large total were 1,200
sample copies of The Bulletin and as many circular
letters, sent throughout the United States in an at
tempt to increase the subscription of our monthly
publication. More about this later.
During the quarter, 68 copies of “The Faith of
Our Fathers,” by Cardinal Gibbons, were sent out,
practically all of them to non-Catholics who requested
the work.
The feature of the work of the first three months
was the placing of sets of the Catholic Encyclopedia,
1 6 volumes to the set, in five Georgia institutions of
higher learning and one library by prominent Cath
olics of Georgia at the suggestion of the Laymen’s
Association. Mr. J. J. Haverty, of Atlanta, pre
sented a set to Georgia Tech and Oglethorpe Uni
versity; Mr. Winfield Jones, of Atlanta, sent a set to
his Alma Mater, the University of Georgia at Athens.
Mr. R. W. Hatcher, of Milledgeville, presented the
Encyclopedia to the Georgia Military College in his
home town with a speech to the assembled student
body. In Macon Messrs. M. J. Callaghan and Cecil
Morgan tendered a set to Mercer University, Mr. J. G.
Barron placed the work on the shelves of the Albany
Library, in the name of Rev. Leo F. Keenan, pastor
in charge of the Albany Missions. Emory University,
of Atlanta, already has a set, the gift of Mr. Lynch,
of that city. The sets of the Encyclopedia were
everywhere received with thanks, and will prove
splendid additions to the fine libraries these institu
tions already possess.
The desire to increase the subscription list of The
Bulletin is based on the fact that the Association
does much work outside the State, although our mem
bers and contributors come almost exclusively from
Georgia. Recently inquiries were received from
twelve States in answer to an ad in an Atlanta paper,
Maine, Iowa, Arkansas and practically every South
ern State among them. More subscribers from other
States would help pay for this work.
It is expected that The Bulletin will be admitted by
the postal authorities to second class mailing privi
leges very soon. Subscribers and contributors must
sign a form for presentation to the authorities first.
The office is now working along these lines.
The Laymen’s Association was recently admitted
to membership in the National Catholic Welfare
Council. The resolutions committee at the 1920 con
vention sanctioned the proposal of the officers that
the organization make application for membership.
The Publicity Bureau has had occasion to take up
with editors, especially those of country newspapers,
errors about Catholics and Catholic practices which
appeared in their columns. Most of the statements
to which we objected were based on lack of informa
tion on the part of the writer, and were not repeated.
The papers are remarkably free from prejudice.
There is one publication in Atlanta, a free lance
weekly which has been printing the ancient anti-
Catholic myths. The editor invariably prints our let
ters to him. He prints a great deal of Ku Klux Klan
news, some anti-Catholic propaganda and a little
Catholic news now and then. He attacks the Cath
olic Church and the Protestant ministry in the same
breath.
Anti-Catholicism is frequently evident in Atlanta
and Macon, but it causes a reaction among fair-
minded Protestants that is distinctly favorable to
those whom the zealots attack. In Fulton County
there is a clergyman who seems to be laboring under
the delusion that he was called to preach hatred of
Catholics instead of love of Christ. In Macon the
Guardians of Liberty run an occasional ad warning
the American people that the Pope is scheming to
bring about the downfall of our free institutions. The
Macon people persist in their short-sighted policy of
refusing to heed the warning. Republics ever were
ungrateful.
Recent news from the Catholic Missions at Tokyo,
convey the intelligence that two of the secular uni
versities are taking up the study of the Catholic re
ligion. It is said that fear of Bolshevism, which is
making serious inroads into all classes of society in
Japan, is partly responsible for this step.
THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S
ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
State Officers for 1920-1921
P. H. Rice, president, Augusta.
Col. P. H. Callahan, honorary vice-president,
Louisville, Ky.
J. J. Haverty, first vice-president, Atlanta.
J. B. McCallum, secretary, Atlanta.
Thomas S. Gray, treasurer, Augusta.
Richard Reid, editor and publicity director, Augusta.
Miss Cecile C. Ferry, assistant publicity director,
Augusta.