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EIGHT
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF' GEORGIA
DECEMBER 21, 1937
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID, Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price $2,00 Per Year
Published monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation of the Most. Rev. Bishops of
Raleigh. Charleston. Savannah. St Augustine and Nash-
ville and of the Rt. Rev Abbot. Ordinary of Belmont.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1937-1938
ALFRED M. BATTEY. Augusta President
J. J. HAVERTY, K. S. G., Atlanta ...First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS F. WALSH, Savannah Treasurer
RICHARD REID, Augusta Executive Secretary
ISS CECILE FERRY. Augusta, Asst. Exec. Secretary
Vol. XVIII
December 21. 1937
No. 12
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta, Ga„ under act of March, 1879. Ac
cepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103. Act. of October 3, 1917. authorized
September 1. 1921.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service the Catholic Press
Association of the United States, the Georgia Press
Association and the National Editorial Association.
Christmas Greetings
Through the pages of The Bulletin I extend to our de
voted clergy, religious and laity heartfelt good wishes
for a holy and happy Christmas and for a New Year
abounding in God’s choicest blessings for soul and body.
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta.'
A
Religion in the United States
RECENT Associated Press dispatch from Atlantic
City quotes the Rev. Frank E. Gabelein, Protestant
minister and headmaster of the Stony Brook School for
boys on Long Island, as asserting that of 55,000 young
sters attending certain schools in New York, more than
16,000 have never heard of the Ten Commandments.
Speakers at the Methodist Episcopal conference held
in Atlantic City estimated that of the 49,000,000 young
people in the United States, 36,000,000 have never set
foot inside a church of any denomination.
Practically all of these children attend schools where
religion is not taught. It is extremely improbable that
parents not interested enough to have their children at
tend church or Sunday school will themselves instruct
them in religion.
Two-thirds of the non-Catholic children of the nation
have no religious instruction, according to Protestant
authorities. One-half of the Catholic children of the
United States attend Catholic schools, and have religious
instruction daily. Most of the others attend Sunday
school, or religious vacation schools, and the number
being reached through these channels is gradually in
creasing. _
Nevertheless, the general situation in reference to the
lack of religious instruction is of deep concern to Cath
olics as well as to other religious-minded people. With
a majority of the children, of the nation getting no re
ligious education, what is to prevent the United States
from becoming predominantly pagan in population? And
if the United States becomes predominantly pagan, what
is to prevent it from going the way of other pagan na
tions?
Peace to Men of Good Will
O N the approach of the blessed Christmas season in
this 1937th year of the Christian era, we look out
upon a world wracked by an international war in China,
civil war in Spain, mutual hatreds between peoples of
neighboring and distant countries, suspicion and dis
trust between classes and other evils which convulse
the hearts of the followers of the Prince of Peace and
Love.
But every evil which today threatens civilization with
disaster finds its roots in antipathy to the teachings of
Him Who came into the world that it might have love
more abundantly. Nations would not be at each other’s
throats in the Orient, or snarling at each other and one
another in the Occident, and making the Iberian penin
sula a bloody arena, and capital and labor would not
be locked in deadly battle if the world would open its
heart to the principles of the Divine Babe of Bethle
hem.
The world is perplexed today by the evils afflicting
it, by wars and rumors of war, by hatred of man for
his brother, by the sufferings of the millions of human
beings who have not the wherewith to sustain life even
in a meagre manner. That very perplexity is a hearten
ing note.
Before our Lord came into the world, those in high
places or in low were, with few notable exceptions, un
concerned by the evils and the sufferings of mankind.
“Am I my brother's keeper?” they asked with Cain.
It was the Church established by Christ which gave
them the first positive, unequivocal answer: “Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
In ancient pagan times, the killing of all captives taken
in war and of the entire populations of captured enemy
cities was accepted as one of the hazards of war. as the
killing of men on the field of battle is today, and the
enslavement of any the victims chose to spare was an
all but universal custom.. Today the killing of enemy
non-combatants sends such waves of indignation rolling
from hostile and neutral territory to the culprit’s shores
that accusations of this character are considered one of
the most effective means of outlawing a nation at the
bar of international public opinion, even by those who
have no scruples in that direction themselves.
One looking at the world today and witnessing the
manner in which even those nations professing to be
Christian are lagging behind Christian principles in
their practices would have reason for discouragement
and despair if it were not for the realization of the dis
tance the world has traveled toward the Christian ideal
in the centuries since the first Christmas. These prin
ciples, which have been responsible for the great masses
of Western civilization and indeed of the world looking
upon war as an evil to be mitigated and eliminated in
stead of as a necessity, are still at work in the world,
and while their influence may be scant in some places
and at some times, their cumulative effect in the world
is increasingly evident in every century.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” was the summation of
the philosophy of the ancient pagan world, as it is of
the modern pagans. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself,” is the heart of Christian philosophy and of
the spirit of the modern world where and to the extent
that it is Christian. Amidst the current strife, there
fore, and amid the economic troubles with which our
civilization is afflicted as we again observe Christmas,
-we pray that the spirit of the Infant Babe of Bethlehem
will make us all his sons and daughters of good will,
and that. He will shower upon us all those choice bless
ings He had promised to men of good will.
A vigorous protest has been spontaneously registered
by the National Council of Catholic Women and the
National Council of Catholic Men to a broadcast Sun
day evening, December 12, which burlesqued the Bib
lical account of the Garden of Eden in a manner which
was not only irreverent, but indecent. The selection of
the screen actress, Mae West, for the principal role
added insult to injury. The program was presented
over a national network and sponsored by Chase and
Sanborn.
Benedict Elder in The Louisville Record says that
Father Coughlin's return to the radio is not a triumph
of Father Coughlin over Archbishop Mooney but a tri
umph of the Detroit priest over himself.
Wealth—Spanish and American
T HE tale of “the wealth of the Church in Spain” is
being used by the Leftists and their sympathizers
to give a semblance of justification to the outrages in
flicted on religion in that unhappy land.
The Rev. Thomas Feeney, S.J., in his booklet on the
subject recalls that the government in Spain by a series
of partial and complete confiscations in 1812, 1820, 1835,
1837 and 1868, seized all church property. There
was government aid, but as late as 1913 only two priests
were receiving as much as $500 a year, and most of them
got $200 or less. In 1931, this meagre assistance, with
which the state salved its conscience for the seizur^ of
church properties, was discontinued. As long ago as
1876, priests were required by government decree to pay
over to the state one-fourth of the free-will offerings
they received.
The insincerity of the accusations of the Leftists is
demonstrated by the fact that it was not merely the al
legedly “wealthy” clergy they killed, but thousands of
self-sacrificing nuns and humble men, women and chil
dren. Just how the radicals helped the masses by kill
ing them and destroying their churches is riot evident to
a discerning mind.
The New York Times of November 24 reports that
the endowment of Harvard University has increased
$7,000,000 during the year, and that the endowment of
the university, according to the figures of Henry L. Shat-
tuck, treasurer of the university, is now $141,941,666.
That is many times the real or reputed wealth of all
the Catholic colleges and schools in Spain, arid yet no
one in this country seems to be particularly concerned
about it—nor are we. But let a Catholic university or
college accumulate such an endowment, through the
generosity of its friends, and we’ll hear plenty from the
atheistic radicals.
Dixie Musings
May Christmas bring to all our
readers every possible joy and bless
ing, and may the New Year be one
of spiritual and material prosperity.
The number of letters we receive
stamped with Christmas seals, each
one -purchased to aid a work of
mercy, is a heartening indication
that the pessimists who foresee no
hope are wrong.
There never would be a seal sale
for the benefit of suffering human
beings If it were not for the teach
ings of Him Who demanded of His
followers that they love their neigh
bors for the love of God.
We have some very .attractive lit
erature from the Japan Chamber of
Commerce in New York, telling how
Japan has always striven to befriend
China only to have China force- her
into a fight to defend herself. Our
reading had given us the impression
that Japan hit China because after
wards China hit her.
The Pathfinder for November 13
asserted that “since late in the fifth
century the Roman Catholic Church
has specifically sanctioned the wor
ship of saints.” Some child from a
Catholic grammar school ought to
drop around and straighten out the
editor on this point.
Newspaper work is very instruc
tive. We learned this week the dif
ference between sanitarium and san
atorium, but haven’t time to explain
it here. The difference is not as
great, however, as that between
sight and vision, usually regarded as
synonyms. Webster’s New Interna
tional Dictionary so regards them.
Far be it from us to disagree with
the great Noah, but he apparently
never observed the different reac
tions they occasion when used to de
scribe a lady.
hamantash to remind them of anti-
Semitic Haman. What will they eat
to remind them of Hitler? We cotdcl
make several suggestions.
Bishop Cannon, back from Europe
expressed himself as being displeas*
ed with the United States, Europe*
the Oxford Conference and a few
other things. Which only goes
show how displeasure breeds diet
pleasure.
The Bishop once said that he tash-
ed an intoxicating beverage on%
once in his life, and that was when
he sampled some beer when he was
young. He didn’t like it. If he had
liked it, the whole political history
of his generation might have been
changed.
Father John B. Kelly, chaplain of
the Catholic Writers’ Guild, located
at 128 West Seventy-First Streep
New York, is lecturing under the aus»
pices of the Guild on Joyce Kilmef
and Father Francis P. Duffy, who
were his devoted companions due*
ing happy, historic years. It was
through Father Kelly that we me|
the famed chaplain of the immorta*
Sixty-Ninth Regiment, and through
Father Kelly also that we claim ao
quaintanceship with Kenton Kilme%
the son of the beloved poet. Dtei
James J. Walsh, himself a close,
friend of both Joyce Kilmer and
Father Duffy, says that “there i&
perhaps no man living today who
knows more intimately the recesses
of Joyce Kilmer’s heart and that oi
Father Francis P. Duffy than does
Father Kelly.”
The Greenville (S. C.) Piedmont
pleads for people not to desecrate
the beautiful name of Christmas by
the substitute Xmas, and the Ander
son (S. C.) Daily Mail expresses the
hope that the clergy will do what they
can, especially in the pulpit, to dis
courage the thoughtless custom.
“X” is given in the Catholic Ency
clopedia, Vol. 1, Pg. 27, as an abbre
viation for the name of Christ our
Savior and Xmas would, therefore,
be a proper abbreviation for Christ
mas. But with the indifference to
Christ now so appallingly evident in
the Christian world and the ignoring
by the world of the basic meaning
of Christmas, the point of The Pied
mont and The Daily Mail is well
made.
A bronze statue of Father Duffy
stands in the north end of Times
Square, where Broadway crosses
Seventh Avenue, watching over it as
he did in the days when he was pas
tor of the Times Square parish, thaf
of the Holy Cross on Forty-Second
Street. And Father Joseph A. Me*
Caffrey, his successor, has a hearjt
no less large than the “Fighting
Chaplain.”
There is no playground for the
children in the Times Square section.
Father McCaffrey, deeply concerned
by the lack of such facilities, finally)
acquired a lot on West Forty-Third
Street, two blocks from Broadway*
at its assessed value ($80,000 as w4
recall it), although the market value
was imcomparably higher, and
equipped it for the little ones, an
expensive undertaking, because
the condition of the lot. which had
to be filled in and paved.
The Quitman (Ga.) Free Press as
serts that “the civil war in Spain
would have ended long ago if it had
not been for the supplies and troops
furnished the rebels by Germany
and Italy.” Possibly the Free Press
right; the Communists from So
viet Russia and the radicals from
France plus thousands of Red sym
pathizers from other countries, in
cluding at least two thousand from
the United States, would have blown
the Spanish people to eternity. The
evidence may be found in the back
files of any newspaper which pub
lishes the news comprehensively and
impartially.
Moral Wrong an Economic Evil
T HE Columbus, Ga., News-Record editorially cites
the problem presented by current statistics on the
relation between deaths and births; even with the de
cline in the death rate, the decline in the number of
births presents a population crisis.
Statistics quoted by leading insurance companies show,
the editorial says, “that the proportion of women of
child-bearing age has diminished for many years past
and will inevitably continue to do so. This will result
in diminished birth rate, even if the present average
size of families is maintained.”
From every section of the nation come reports of fewer
children in public schools. New teachers are now ap
pointed only to succeed those who die, are retired or re
sign; there are few new schools being opened anywhere
in the United States, and those due only to a shift in
population. The government is devoting its attention to
financing homes “for the typical American family of
four,” the parents and two children.
All history teaches that a dwindling population pre
sages a dying civilization. Only the flow of immigra
tion has retarded the evil; immigration has been stop
ped. There are those who get a certain satisfaction out
of lack of immigration and a dwindling birth rate among
the children of recent immigrants as well as among the
descendents of immigrants of the eighteenth and seven
teenth centuries. But a declining potential market for
our cotton and other Southern products due to birth
control, which the Catholic Church condemns as sin,
will demonstrate again that sin is an economic as well
as a moral evil.
If the people of Spain were not
with TYanco, his entire army would
not be large enough to police the
territory he has captured, not to
mention carry on the war against the
Leftists. The people' need no polic
ing; they maintain order them
selves.
The Leftists asserted that their
fight is with “the hierarchy,” and to
prove it they go out and burn down
the churches and kill - humble and
defenseless nuns, priests and people.
Their fight is with religion, and they
make no pretense about it in this
country, where you can hear relig
ion denounced by them from soap
boxes in the principal cities of our
country.
The Leftists are anti-religious, but
that does not make the Rightists and
religion synonymous. "In medio
state virtus;” the Church travels her
.confident Way in the middle of -the
one-way road of progress toward real
liberty, equality and fraternity, be
ing diverted neither by the radicals
of the Left or the reactionaries of
the Right.
Head Coach Harry Mehre, of the
University of Georgia football team
for the past ten years, and connected
with the University for fourteen
years, has resigned. Coach Mehre’s
teams defeated Yale five consecutive
times; in ten seasons his teams have
won 59 games, lost 34 and tied six.
This year’s team lost only three
games, to Holy Cross. Florida and
Tennessee, and to Holy Cross and
Florida by the slightest possible
margins; it tied Georgia Tech and
Auburn and defeated Oglethorpe,
South Carolina, Clemson. Mercer and
Tulane. Mr. Mehre did a splendid
job of coaching at Georgia; he did a
magnificent one as a representative
of the traditions of Notre Dame, his
alma mater. He is enshrined perma
nently in the hearts of University of
Georgia men of his years at Athens,
and in the hearts of housands of its
alumni.
The Jews have a new problem, ac
cording to Harper’s. They eat un
leavened bread. Motzoth to recali
the persecution by Pharaoh, and
This amount of money could have
fed a great number of people, but
who can estimate the number ot
young lives it prevented from being
crushed beneath the wheels of great
trucks when the little ones tried to
get in a game of baseball in the busy
streets? And who can determine
the number of young lives it snatch
ed from careers of crime by making
available facilities for recreation in
a wholesome atmosphere? And who
can calculate the millions of words
of scorn poured out by the Commun
ists on the Catholic Church without
one word of recognition of the self-
sacrificing labors of its Father Mc
Caffreys, whose worries would be
so substantially mitigated by apply
ing such sums in other directions?
Incidentally, the playground is fqr
all the children of the neighborhood?
not merely those of the parish.
The last time we were in Holy
Cross Church, Father McCaffrey
urged all at the Mass to drop some
thing. into the poor box at the door
as they went out. “And if you must
make a. choice between the church
collection and the poor box,” he
said, “choose the poor box.”
While we have wandered to the
Times Square region—we never
know where we shall end up when
we start this column and want n«
smart suggestions from the audience
—we might quote Anthony B. Fergu
son, president of the Advertising
Club of Harlem,-the greatest Negro
community in the world, who is
quoted in the Macon Telegraph as
saying that although the Negro con
stitutes only 5.1 per cent of the pop
ulation of New York City, he com
prises 14.5 per cent of the unem
ployed.
Editor Henry McIntosh, editor ot
The Albany Herald, has organized
the “I Don't Believe It” Club. When
the members are told any gossip or
scandal .they wait patiently to the
end .then look the informer in the
eye and say: “I don’t believe it.”
We have joined the club, and, in
the absence of conclusive evidence,
we don’t believe what the New
Dealers tell us about the Conserva-*
fives, or what the Conservati-ves tell
us about the New Dealers, or what
the Republicans tell us about the
Democrats, or what the Democrats
tell us about the Republicans, or
what the C. I. O. tells us about the
A. F. of L., or vice versa, or what
the capitalists tell us about both, or
what both tell us about the capital
ists. Make out your own list.
‘Augusta Yeggmen Being Sought
for Job in Greenville,” according to
the Greenville (S. C.) News. We
have experts in all lines in Augusta.
Rush Burton of the Lavonia -Ga.)
Times, is worried about his two-
year-old grandson who goes to
Church with a nv-';le and romes
home with six cents. H R.