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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.)