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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Asso
ciation of Georgia.
Published Monthly by the Publicity Department.
409 Herald Building, Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price—$2.00 Per Year.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1921-1922
P. H. Rice, K. S. G., Augusta President
Col. P. H. Callahan, Louisville, Ky.. .Hon. Vice-Pres.
J. J. Haverty, Atlanta First Vice-Pres.
J. B. McCallum, Atlanta Secretary
Thomas S. Gray, Augusta . . Treasurer
Richard Reid, Augusta—Editor & Publicity Director
Miss Cecile C. Perry, Augusta. . .Asst. Pub. Director
VOL. II. NOVEMBER, 1921 No. 12
THE BIRMINGHAM VERDICT
Rev. E. R. Stephenson, charged with the murder
of Father Coyle of Birmingham, has been acquit
ted by a jury of his peers. That is the worst we
can say about the jury—that its members were
Stephenson’s peers, and he theirs.
The Columbus Enquirer-Sun has analyzed the ver
dict in masterly and fearless fashion, and says in
part:
“By the dishonest verdict as rendered, Stephenson
goes free to live out his miserable life with the
knowledge gnawing at his heart and conscience—if
he has a heart and conscience—that he is a cold
blooded and cowardly murderer, no matter what the
jury may have said about it. And sooner or later
he will, too, go to the grave, where already the bones
of his victim mingle with the dust, and his soul
stand in judgment before the Maker of them both.
There no appeal to religious prejudice will avail
him; there no sob-speech of lawyers will soften the
verdict of the one just Judge; but only repentance,
complete and unfeigned, will serve to mitigate his
crime.”
The Jackson (Miss.) Daily News, the Spartan
burg (S. C.) Herald and the Charleston (S. C.)
American have condemned the verdict of the Steph
enson jury, and former Governor Emmet O’Neal of
Alabama, speaking before the students and alumni
of the University of Alabama, declared that the
verdict made human life cheaper in Alabama.
“It would seem that the Jefferson County jury
has made an open season in Alabama for the kill
ing of Catholics,” he said, and he called on the
students and alumni of the University to use their
influence to kill the prevailing spirit of religious
intolerance.
Comparisons are odious, yet they are very often
convincing. Catholics in Georgia have their troub
les, but it would take more than a great deal of
argument to convince them that Stephenson would
have been acquitted of the murder of Father Coyle
had the killing and trial taken place in any Georgia
city. They have more confidence in the fairness
of the representative non-Catholics of their state.
ST. STANISLAUS’ COLLEGE.
In the history of the Catholic Church in Georgia
its members have been called upon but few times to
hear news which caused them as much regret as
that of the burning of St. Stanislaus’ College.
St. Stanislaus’ belongs to the whole South, but
its memories, associations and location make it in
a particular way property of the Diocese of Sav
annah. There many of our older priests were edu
cated. Laymen in nearly every city in the state
spent college days there. We have seen many of
our Georgia boys enter its doors and the life of self-
sacrifice characteristic of the followers of St. Igna
tius Loyola.
There are twenty members of the Catholic Lay-
mn’s Association who have an additional reason
for regret at the destruction of St. Stanislaus’ Col
lege. They are the men who last July made the
first laymen’s retreat ever conducted in the South
east. They remember St. Stanislaus’ as a place
where one could leave the cares of the world behind—
a place where they could go when they were weary,
and be refreshed.
The Catholic’s Laymen’s Association sympathizes
with the Fathers of the Society of Jesus in their
great loss. It believes that another and greater St.
Stanislaus’ will rise from its ashes. The wish is
father to the thought.
The burning of St. Stanislaus’ will not interfere
with the preparations being made for the laymea’s
Retreat next year. It will without doubt be held in
Macon, and be conducted by one of the Jesuit Fathers
The register with the signatures of the twenty
charter retreatants was lost in the fire.
NOT ALL IN DIXIE
Three priets have been killed recently, Father
Coyle m Birmingham, Father Heslin in California,
and Father Belknap in South Dakota. Father
Coyle was shot down in his home by a man brood
ing over a fancied wrong. Father Heslin and Belk
nap were lured. from their places of residence sup
posedly to administer the last sacraments and com
fort to dying men. Thus far, the people of Cali
fornia and South Dakota have not been condemned
for the murders of the priests outside of Dixie.
Why should they be? But in the other case—well,
there must be some process of reasoning unknown
to us, which leads well meaning people to believe that
“that’s is a different case.”
There is an alleged ex-priest in Columbus who has
forgotten who ordained him and the name of the
church in which he is supposed to have received Holy
Orders. Neither can he recite the Apostles Creed.
He complains that his memory is not very good, but
this is not at all noticeable when it comes to recall
ing minute details of alleged misdeeds of members
of the clergy.
It makes a liar just as mad to be called one as an
honest man.—Brunswick Banner.