Newspaper Page Text
Member of the National
Catholic Welfare Coun
cil Fews Service.
TEN CENTS A COPY.
VOL. III. NO. 2.
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia.
“TO BRING ABOUT A FRIENDLIER FEELING AMONG GEORGIANS, IRRESPECTIVE OF CREED”
AUGUSTA, GA„ FEBRUARY 10, 1922.
The Only Catholic
Newspaper Between Bal
timore and New Orleans
$2.00 A YEAR
ISSUED SEMI-MONTHLY
NUNCIO IT PIS
PRAISES AMERICA
TO FliEIC! EDITOR
United States Land of Full
est Religious Liberty, He
Says, and It Surpasses
France in That Respect.
By M. MASSIANI.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Paris.—Msgr. Cerretti, archbishop
of Corinth and ntincio of the holy
see at Paris, in an interview grant
ed to the editor of the Petit Pari-
sene paper which is neutral oh po
litical and religious questions, was
led to speak of the Catholic Church
in America.
The editor of the Petit Parisien
asked the nuncio kindly to give him
his impression of the debates in
the French senate which finally end
ed in a definite vote in favor of
credits for the maintenance of the
embassy at the Vatican.
“We have every reason to rejoice
that such a debate took place," said
Msgr. Cerretti. “This examination
of a question in all its aspects is
an excellent thing, and these pub
lic, broad, passionate discussions
have the advantage of leaving no
point in the dark. Every party
was heard, they all developed their
ideas, and the very ardor shown was
an evidence of the importance which
is attached here to the renewal of
relations with the Vatican.”
Discusses Churcn and % Statc.
“What made the discussions so
heated, Excellency, as was brought
out in the long speeches, was the
fear of interference by the church
in our internal politics.”
“That is a itain fear, I assure you,”
answered Msgr. Cerretti. “The
church will continue to follow her
path without political preoccupa
tions of any sort; whenever the oc
casion lias been given me, I have
never ceased to confirm my will to
remain outside of all political par
ties.”
In this connection Msgr. Cerretti
expressed astonishment tfiat a sen
ator/ a friend of M. Clemenceau,
had accused him in the senate of
having supported the candidacy of
Deschancl for president of the re
public. He repeated once again
that he had nothing to do with the
election; furthermore, he was not
in France when it took place.
“Did not your Excellency make
a long stay in Paris during the
preparation of the treaty of Ver
sailles?” asked the journalist.
“That is correct,” replied Msgr.
Cerretti. “I had been sent by ltomc
to defend the interests of Catho
lic missions in the German colo
nies. At article inserted in the
peace treaty created a risk of as
signing to Protestants certain prop
erty of the Catholic missions. I
supported the rights of the Catho
lics missions, and the point of view
o. Home was adopted.”
All the answers, remarks the edi
tor of tlie Petit Parisien, were
made without reticence, wit han ev
ident desire to dissipate misunder
standings and brusli away the cloud
which might darken the road he
had mapped out. At Washington
Msgr. Cerretti had learned with
what jealousy care democracies de
fend their liberties. It is from
America that he brings the frank
ness of his speech and welcome.
“You come to us from America,”
said the journalist. “Can the role
of Catholicism in the two great re
publics he compared in any way?”
United Slates Land of Beligious
Liberty.
* “That is very difficult. The
United States is a young country in
which the citizen enjoys the full
est liberty. In all the American
laws there is not a single restric
tion relative to the Catholic church
or to any others, for that matter.
All religious may establish them
selves there without hindrance to
influence or their expansion. The
private schools select the education
and the educators they want. Rc-
ligious congregations, already nu
merous, continue to increase. France
is a land of traditions, possessing
a long history, an ancient past in
which religious wars arc not lack-
(Continucd on page 5.)
BENSON NAMED ONE OF
FIVE MEN WHO WON WAR
Cleveland, Ohio, —Former Sec
retary of War Newton D. Baker,
was one of the principal speak
ers at tlie big meeting which
was called to receive Admiral
Benson, president of the Na
tional Council of Catholic Men,
on his recent visit to Cleveland.
Mr. Baker praised Admiral Ben
son’s patriotic services to the
United States during the World
War, when lie was chief of oper
ations of the Navy Department.
“Admiral Benson is one of
perhaps five men who did the
most to win the World War,” Mr.
Baker told the gathering of about
5000 people.
Rt. Rev. Joseph Schrembs, the
chairman of the department of
Lay Organizations Activities of
the National Catholic Welfare
Council, of which the Men’s
Council is a branch, attended and
addressed the meeting. Rishop
Schrembs urged the unity of the
nation in peace as in war and
told of the aid Secretary Baker
gave to national solidarity by his
order that all war drives for the
various organizations should be
consolidated.
While in Cleveland Admiral
Benson was the guest of the
Chamber of Commerce at a noon
day luncheon, and spoke, to mem
bers of the organization.
Cardinal Ratti, Archbishop of
Milan, Elected Two Hundred and
Sixtieth Successor of St Peter
| Newly Selected Pontiff Has
! Been Cardinal Only Few
| Months— Will Be Known
As Pope Pius XI.
DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF
AS NUNCIO TO POLAND
Was Director of Vatican
and Ambrosia Libraries
Previous to His Mission to
Poland.
Rev. C. N. Skelton, Congre
gationalism in Atlantic
Monthly Article, Explains
It and Urges Its Use.
POPE PIUS XI.
URGES MEEKNESS
Washington, D. C.—Adoption of
the “confessional” by the Protestaut
Churches is urged in an article,
which Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, a
Congregational minister, contributes
to the current number of the At
lantic Monthly. The minister also
gives an account of the good lie
has accomplished among members
of his own congregation by the
“Open Door,” which he has attempt
ed to make a substitute for the
Sacrament of Pcnace.
In relating his experiences with
his “Open Door,” Dr. Sheldon gives
instances of the spiritual help tint
has been given to sinful souls. He
cites tlie cases of a man who was
helped hack to an honest life after
having been guilty of embezzlement,
and tells of a girl who was saved
from ruin and of homes that were
restored to happiness by compos
ing quarrels between husbands and
wives. Dr. Sheldon gives several
hours of each Sunday afternoon to
this “Open Door.”
Want More Than Preaching.
“But the people want something
more than preaching. They want
comfort and courage and tlie help
that does not come to them when
it is handed out wholesale. The
Confessional of the Roman church
is a recognition of a human crav
ing so deep and eternal, that it is
a bewildering thing to sec how it
has been ignored by the Protestant.
Church, which has emphasized
preaching above piety, and the pulpit
above the person. It is always
easy to predict what might happen
if something is done in place of
something else; but I would like to
suggest that if the churches of Am
erica opened a Confessional that
would minister to the primary
needs of people’s souls, in between
the preaching and the multiplied
committees and meetings of organ
izations, the church—the Protestant
Church in this country—would be
gin a chapter in its life that would
do away with tlie questions, how
can we reach the masses? what
shall we do with the second serv
ice? why don’t people go to church?
and all the rest of tlie wail that goes
up concerning the churches’ weak
ness.”
Bishop of Belfast Says Bigo
try There Soon Will Die,
Dublin—Bishop MacRory in a
recent address in his cathedral of
fered his deep sympathy to his
sorely tried flock in Belfast. For
seventeen months, he said , they
had been subjected to violence and
persecution that was a disgrace not
only to Christianity but to civili
zation and humanity. Hundreds of
their houses had been burned or
wrecked. Many valuable lives had
been lost and all the time thou
sands of their people remained ex
pelled from work for no other rea
son than that they were Catholics.
The latter had not been the ag
gressors in any case.
He exhorted them to patience and
courage; and asked them not to
harbor feelings of revenge for those
who were their proscutors. He liop-
ed that the bigotry that had dis
graced Belfast would soon pass
away for ever, Self government
begot responsibility and breadtli of
mind and he trusted they could
look forward to better things in
the new era that they all hoped was
opening for their country.
APPEALS TO WOMEN
Boston Judge Asks Them to
Be Active in Civic Life,
fairs.
Lowell, Mass.—An appeal to the
Catholic women of America to in
terest themselves in public ques
tions so that tlicy may use the bal
lot intelligently and effectively was
made here this week by Judge Mich
ael J. Murray, of Boston, one of the
best known jurists in Massachusetts
in an address to the League of Cath
olic women.
CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
MINSTREL IN AUGUSTA
Augusta, Ga.—Tlie Twentieth Cen
tury Minstrels, under the direction
of James Mathews, will stage a per
formance under the auspices of the
Catholic High School of Augusta on
Thursday and Friday evenings, Feb
ruary 16 and 17, at eight o’clock.
FIRE AT LOYOLA COLLEGE
Chicago, 111.,—A $50,000 fire in the
mcdcial college of Loyola Univers
ity destroyed specimens, instru
ments, books and furnishings. Tlie
fire originated in the biological
laboratory, and was detected by one
of the Jesuit fathers, in time to
prevent its spread, amt the destruc
tion of the building. Loyola medi
cal college is one of the largest jn
the west, and is to he taken over
eventually as the medical school of
the new Catholic University of St.
Mary of the Lake.
“We live,” said lie, “in an age when
much is said of individual rights and
very little of individual obligations.
'Hie spirit of Christ is not merely the
spirit of liberty and equality it is
more especially the spirit of love,
sympathy and goodness. This is the
day of service, if we arc lo reach
q>radical results.
“One of the practical difficulties
with men and women of today is
that the average person you meet is
content lo look at a thing and never
thinks to look into it. Take the
use of the ballot.
“What you should do now, if you
arc resolved lo be patriotic citizen's,
is to study tlie political questions
of our day and of the future, oil
which it is not only your privilege
hut your solemn duty to cast a bal
lot when ejection day comes around.
And see to it that the ballot when
marked records a free woman’s will.
“We have no right to dodge this
path or that highway if duty calls
us there, because the duty is a dis
agreeable one.
“Let us get it into our system
that life is made up of rights and
obligations. I know some men who
are forever declaiming about tlicir
rights and what they ought to gel
out of the government; but not one
syllable drops from their lips about
their obligations. The trouble with
tlie world is that so many arc for
ever insisting upon their rights, and
are never ready to discharge their
obligations to tlicir fellow citizens. •
“You have the vote. The duty is
there, you cannot dodge it. It is
just like the obligations of home,
and you meet those whatever the
cost.
Cardinal Acliille Ratti, archbishop
of Milan and during the war papal
nuncio to Roland, is tlie two hun
dred and sixty-first supreme pon
tiff of the Catholic Church. He
was elected the morning of Febru
ary Gill, last Monday, and liis coro
nation will take place Feb. 12. He
will reign as Rope l’ius XI.
Immediately after bis selection
Cardinal Ratti appeared on tlie out
side balcony of St. Peter's and be
stowed his blessing on tlie multi
tudes waiting below in tiie rain,
This was the first time since Ilia
seizure of the papal states that tin
blessing of the newly elected pon
tiff lias not been given from with
in the basilica. Cardinal O’Connell,
archbishop of Boston, arrived al tlie
Vatican too late to participate in
the election, but in time for th
benediction.
Cardinal Ratti was born al Desio,
a town of 8,000 inhabitants, eight
miles north of Milan, May 80, 1857,
the third of six children. His fa
ther, Francesco, was a weaver and
spinner, and at the time of the birth
of the future pope, was in charge
of tlie. weavers employed by tlie
Counts of Ruslano. The Ratti fam
ily was neither rich nor poor; it
belonged to the respectable middle
class.
Achilie was sent lo a school con
ducted by Don Giuseppe Volontcri,
a priest noted around Milan as an
educator. Under his guidance—and
lie took particular pains with Acliille
because he regarded him as a stu
dent of promise—the young stu
dent was enabled to enter the gym
nasium of St. Reter Martyr. Later
he was sent to the lyceum in the
seminary of Monsea, where lie pur
sued his classical studies for two
years, the third year of tiiese stud
ies being undertaken in the College
of St. Charles Borronico in Milan.
After three additional years in the
major seminary in Milan, lie was
sent by the archbishop to the Lom
bard College, in Rome, where he
took his courses in tlie Gregorian
University, conducted by the Jes
uits. Three more . cars brought him
tlie degrees of Doctor of Philosophy,
theology and canon law.
Returning to Milan, he taught
theology and sacred eloquence in the
major seminary for five years. On
Nov. 5, 1888, he was chosen one of
tlie college of doctors of the Am
brosia Library. Twenty years of
his life was devoted to the work
in this famous institution, during
which time he was also engaged
in pastoral activities. In 1907, he
was selected to succeed tlie director
of the Library, Msgr. Ccriani, who
had died. He continued at this post
until 1914, although In 1910 lie was
called by Rope Pius X. lo Rome
to become vice-prefect of the Vati
can library. In 1914, on tlie resig
nation of the director of the Vati
can library, lie succeeded him.
In tlie spring of 1918, Msgr. Ratti
was delegated by Pope Benedict XV.
lo the important position of nuncio
to Poland, although going first as
a papal visitor, and in spite of al
most insurmountable difficulties lie
succeeded beyond fondest hopes.
Poland was at the time occupied
by foreign troops and Russia was
racked liy revolutions, but he ob
tained results that could not he
achieved under regime of the czars.
His ability on the Polish mission
was recognized by liis elevation to
the. archbishopric of Milan, his na
tive see, July 3, 1920, and the fol
lowing June 13 he was given the
red liat of a cardinal.