Newspaper Page Text
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
3
A REVIEW OF THE YEAR’S WORK
A DIGEST OF THE PUBLICITY COMMITTEE REPORT
The report of the publicity committee of the Cath
olic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, as submitted at
the Atlanta convention, is too long to be reproduced
in The Bulletin, but too important to be omitted en
tirely.
The report showed that the Association had been
through a most successful year. It was an indication
of progress. Five years ago the Georgia papers which
did not at least occasionally attack Catholics could be
counted on the thumbs of one’s right hand. Last
year we could report that there was but one paper reg
ularly attacking us. Now, for the first time in the his
tory of the anti-Catholic movement, we can state there
is not a single paper in the state which attacks us reg
ularly, not even the Columbia Sentinel.
The committee reports more than that. It can tell
the members of the Laymen’s Association that there
are numerous papers, formerly silent or hostile, which
now have an occasional good word to say for Cath
olics. This is the more remarkable in view of the num
ber of burning questions on which an ill-informed or
dishonest editor could base attacks on the Church
the Irish question, which is linked in the minds of
many Georgians with the Vatican in spite of the fact
that many of the officials of the Sinn Fein Republic
are Protestants and the English Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland is a Catholic; the Ku Klux Klan movement;
the announcement of Pope Benedict XV on the Y. M.
C. A.; the fight of the Junior Senator from Georgia;
and many other common topics. We noted that during
the negotiations between England and Ireland, the
editors of the state as a rule held their breath, hop
ing that the matter would be amicably settled. Hatred
is dying.
During the year The Bulletin has become a monthly
instead of a quarterly. The attitude of the Associa
tion toward the Junior Senator from Georgia has been
changed, with eminently pleasing results. The lead
ing institutions of the state have been supplied with
the Catholic Encyclopedia either through the Lay
men’s Association or through its friends, and at its
suggestion. Among these institutions we may name
the University of Georgia at Athens, Georgia Tech
and Oglethorpe University at Atlanta, Mercer Univer
sity at Macon, Georgia Military College at Milledge-
ville, Albany Public Library and the library at Bruns
wick.
The first Laymen’s retreat in the state, and perhaps
in the Southeast, has been successfully conducted, the
first of hundreds, we believe. The number of insult
ing letters have been reduced to the vanishing point.
The Laymen’s Association has moved the publicity
bureau to one of the leading office buildings in Au
gusta, and has entertained many distinguished visitors
from other states there, several Bishops included. And
the Catholic Laymen’s Association has become during
the year the best known diocesan organization of
Catholic laymen and women on the North American
continent.
During the year the Association sustained its great
est loss since its inception its first publicity director
and editor was claimed by death. “The evil men do
lives after them; the good is oft interred with their
bones.’’ But when a man lives such a life as Mr.
Farrell did, precluding the possibility of leaving evil
behind, the good he did must necessarily survive him.
And the greatest good resulting from Mr. Farrell’s
life was the Catholic Laymen’s Association. No mat
ter how great the Laymen’s Association should ever
become, no man will be able to say that it will not be
the logical result of his labors.
During the year about 60,000 pieces of lierature
were distributed. This is less than last year by far,
yet more. It is less in volume; the 1920 convention
decided that it should be so, and wisely. It is more
because there was no general distribution of literature.
Every piece of literature sent out was either to a per
son who had requested it, or to someone a friend
wished supplied.
Answers to 1,312 letters of inquiry have been sent
out during the year, varying in size from one question
to a dozen, and from a paragraph or two to four or
five typewritten pages. We have been called upon
to furnish information on any number of subjects. We
have been asked how Sunday Schools originated; why
the Catholic Church in Atlanta did not toll its bell
when de Valera came to town; who baptized Joel
Chandler Harris; what the contents of the Magna Char-
ta letter to Pope John was; why December 25 is
Christmas; why George Washington, Benjamin Frank
lin, Dwight Moody and others cannot be saints as well
as the “husband of Mary’’ and many other widely
varied questions.
The inquiries came from 82 Georgia counties, 39
states of the Union, from several Canadian provinces,
and even from distant Ceylon, washed by the waters
of the Indian ocean. From several states and from
Canada came requests for our constitution and out
lines of our methods, that they might organize sim
ilar associations. And one of the features of our work
here in Georgia, as revealed by inquiries, is the fact
that we are not only defending Catholic beliefs and
practices, but the fundamental principles of all Chris
tian denominations as well.
During the year 1280 “follow-up” letters to inquir
ers, offering copies of “The Faith of Our Fathers,” by
Cardinal Gibbons, were sent out. Two hundred and
five copies of the work were requested by non-Cath-
olics. Many others wrote in saying they had the work.
Only four hostile letters were received in reply. Sev
eral copies of the New Testament, The Question Box,
and The Fairest Argument were also requested, and
thirteen other books were loaned from the Association
library during the year.
Besides the Open Letter to the Junior Senator from
Georgia, published in the state’s leading papers, there
was but one occasion for special advertising during the
year. That was in Atlanta, one of the few places in
the state where anti-Catholicism is rampant. Pre
vious to the school election, false statements about the
attitude of Catholics toward the public schools were
published at the request of a councilman. The Associ
ation issued a statement, which was greeted by more
falsehoods. Believing that controversies never accom
plish much, the Association decided to keep quiet at
the time.
The Atlanta situation should not discourage us. The
anti-Catholic germ is like the measles; every growing
city must experience it. A reaction is bound to come.
But the Laymen’s Association was not organized to
await reactions. It can do a great deal by makipg
use of the antidote of education.
The publication of The Bulletin monthly was one
of the year’s greatest accomplishments. It now has
about 2,000 subscribers, every Association member
being counted a subscriber. There is no reason why it
should not have a circulation of 5,000. The commit
tee hopes to see The Bulletin a newspaper in time.
The work of the Association in the matter of the
libeling of the officials of Chatham County, our
Bishop, and the Sisterhoods of Georgia by the Junior
Senator from Georgia has already been made known
through The Bulletin. Senator Watson has not yet
answered the open letter.
News letters were sent out at intervals during the
year to the papers of Georgia, especially during the
period when the Junior Senator was in the limelight.
The publicity bureau had occasion to send out many
letters of thanks to editors for articles and editorials
dealing with Catholic subjects, and an even greater
number to editors correcting misstatements about
Catholics, most of them, we are willing to believe,
due to misinformation rather than malice. Through
Mr. Michael Williams of the National Council of Cath-
(Continued on page 4.)