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PAGE 4—THE BULLETIN, August 9, 1958
JOSEPH BREIG
Day The War Ended
I wonder how many of us
have forgotten that World War
II ended on the feast of the As
sumption of the Virgin Mary
into Heaven.
In the western hemisphere,
the date
was
August
14,
1945—the
eve
of the feast.
In Japan,
where
the
cease -
fire
halted
the
strife, the
feast
itself
had
dawned.
It ’
Day.
was Assumption
Our prayers had been answer
ed. The rosaries we had recited,
the Communions we had re
ceived, the sacrifices we had
made, had saved Christendom
once more, as so often in his
tory.
Now, we are engaged in a
world-wide novena, led by Pope
Pius XII, for a profounder
peace.
The novena will close on an
other Assumption Day, next
Friday.
WE PRAY for much more
than a sheathing of swords,
which in our time take the form,
as Pope Pius said, of weapons
of such human power that they
can “submerge in universal ex
termination not only the defeat
ed but also the victors and the
whole community.”
We are asking God, through
Our Lady, for the reunion of
mankind in one family.
How can this be accomplish
ed? Only by a turning to God
as our Father; only by a return
to His house, like the Prodigal
Son.
If we will put away our prides
and lusts, we will find God
waiting with open arms.
But we must not sit with the
pigs praying only with our
mouths. We must rise up and
go back to our Father’s house.
Then we shall find ourselves
stepping from darkness into
light, from hatred into love,
from ugliness into beauty.
AS POPE PIUS, venerable
with years and sacrifice, told us
in his encyclical calling for this
novena, “Every intelligence not
enlightened by the light of God
separates itself little by little
from the fullness of truth. Dis
cords arise, increase and grow.”
The mind and heart discon
nected from God are like lamps
when a storm has torn down the
electric lines. Where there
should be illumination, there is
a blind groping.
There cannot be true peace on
earth, there cannot be a happy
human family, when the Church
is persecuted, and when even
many who think themselves
Christians wallow in pigsties of
evil reading, entertainment and
behavior.
“A state without religion,”
Pope Pius said, “cannot have
moral recitude or order.” So
much for communism.
"MANY WRITE and spread
their works,” wrote the Holy
Father, “not to serve truth and
virtue, or to give readers a true
diversion, but to excite turbid
passions for the purpose of gain,
or to offend and soil with lies,
calumnies and abuses all that
that is sacred, noble and beau
tiful.” So much for the litera
ture, drama and entertainment
which leaves unclean the hands
of the western world.
We pray, therefore, for a vast
pilgrimage of mankind to the
atonement needed to make of
our planet what the poet Francis
Thompson envisioned it to be—
a guest censer, wreathed in
clouds like incense, swinging in
adoration and love before the
throne of God.
We address our nine days of
special petition to God through
Mary because God made her our
Mother in making her Mother of
our brother and redeemer,
Christ.
BECAUSE CHRIST is our
Savior, He is the way to God.
Because Mary is His Mother, she
is the way to Christ. God so
willed it even in the Garden of
Eden, when He promised a
champion who would come
through the woman to crush the
head of Satan.
We pray with trust and confi
dence. Never has our Mother re
fused us. “We invite all the
flock entrusted to us to place
themselves confidently under
her protection,” wrote Pope
Pius. “. . . It is certain that at
the end, the Church, like Christ
our Redeemer . . . will have a
peaceful victory over all ene
mies . . . We nourish the hope
with certainty that she (Our
Lady) will not in any manner
put aside . . . the universal pray
ers of Catholics.”
Theology
For The
Layman
(By F. J. Sheed)
The heavenly Father has a
Son, the Gospels are full of
their relation. We must now
look at it more closely.
A son is a distinct person
from his father, there is no way
in which a fa
ther can be
h i s own son.
But though
they are dis
tinct persons,
they are like
in nature—the
son of a man
is a man, of a
lion a lion. In this solitary case,
the Father’s nature is infinite;
so the Son too must have an
infinite nature. But there can
not be two infinite natures —
one would be limited by not
being the other and by not hav
ing power over the other. There
fore, since the Son has an in
finite nature, it must be the
same identical nature as the
Father’s.
This truth, that Father and
Son possess the one same nature,
might remain wholly dark to
us if St. John had not given us
another term for their relation
—the Second Person is the
WORD of the First. In the first
eighteen verses of his Gospel
(to be found at the end of Mass)
we learn that God has uttered
a Word, a Word who is God,
who is in the bosom of the
Father, by whom all things are
made, who became flesh and
dwelt among us.
God then utters a Word: not
framed by the mouth, of course,
for God has no mouth, He is
pure spirit. So it is a word in
the mind of God, an Idea, the
Idea He produces of Himself.
The link between having a son
and having an idea of oneself is
that both are ways of producing
likeness; your son is like in
nature to yourself; your idea
of yourself bears some resem
blance to you too—though it
may be imperfect, for we sel
dom see ourselves very clearly,
too many elements are seen
wrong, too many not seen at all.
But the Idea that God has of-
Himself cannot be imperfect.
(Continued on Page 5)
Jottings ...
(By BARBARA C. JENCKS)
j
Question
Box
By David Q. Liptak
Q: If ihe cloistered contem
plative life is more noble and ef
ficacious than the active life, as
you stated in your recent col
umn, where do the countless
numbers of ordinary men like
myself fit into the picture inso
far as sanctity is concerned?
A. The contemplative life in
which prayer is markedly em
phasized over good works, is of
its nature higher than the active
life, objectively taken. Although
the contemplative life is com
monly associated with the clois
tered life, however, it does not
follow that the contemplative
life is synonymous with the
cloistered life. Rather, the latter
is but one of the most effective
objective means toward the pos
session of the contemplative life.
Nor is it among the ordinary
means, for it is evident that rel
atively few men or women are
specially called by God to be
cloistered monks or nuns.
The vast majority of men on
the other hand, are called to
vocations in the world. Each
person is assigned a particular
role by means of which he can
accomplish the most good, and
glorify and love God the most.
Vocations vary from individual
to individual, but they are all
meant by God to fulfill His glory
and His love in the world. “The
difference between the various
vocations,” writes Thomas Mer
ton in “No Man Is an Island,”
“lies in the different ways one
enables men to discover God’s
love, appreciate it, respond to it,
and share it with other men.”
EVEN THE different voca
tions can be arranged theoretic
ally in a hierarchy, from the less
to the more noble. But in the
concrete that particular voca
tion will be best for an individu
al to which he or she has been
called by God. Regardless of
what specific role a person is
called upon to play in the world,
moreover, he is still held to
(Continued on Page 6)
AS THOUSANDS CON
VERGE upon Lourdes this sum
mer of the centennial annivers
ary of the apparitions how many
actually experience the famous
epigram: “For those who believe
in miracles no explanation is
necessary, for those who do not
believe in miracles no explana
tion is possible.” Thus a Jew,
Franz Werfel, began his movie
about the Catholic saint Berna
dette who 100 years ago was
visited by Our Lady at a French
grotto called Lourdes. Through
the years non-Catholics, Jews,
scientists, medical men have
come to speculate, sneer, deride
and have stayed to pray and lat
er write convincing testimonies.
The scoffers and cynics still
come. One was a “Time” news
man. Under the section “Relig
ion” in the July 21st issue of
the magazine which selected
Nikita Khruschev as man of the
year, the major item is about
the tasteless souvenirs exploit
ed by Lourdes merchants.
"TIME" has a well-established
reputation of preference for
cuteness and cleverness rather
than clarity and correctness. In
its “Timese” style, the writer
lists gimmicks such as neckties
that glow in the dark with Ber
nadette’s image, corkscrews
with Bernadette’s head, fountain
pens, hour glasses, blessed candy
and soap. Such commercialism
offends and affronts most Cath
olics and in no way reflects
Catholic attitude as the article
might imply to the untutored
reader. On St. Patrick’s Day, it
is hardly the Irish who hawk
gawdy green souvenirs of harps
and flags and hats. It was this
aspect of the “number-one
shrine of Christendom” which
“Time” chose to feature. What
is the purpose of such an arti
cle? While taking inventory at
the huckster’s stands did the re
porter miss the real story. Amid
the junky souvenirs did he fail
to look out and see stretchers
and wheel chairs and crutches
and canes. Why his dominant ir-
revelent irreverency? Buried in
the report titled in “Timese”
cuteness, “Piracy in Piety,” was
the fact that huckstering does
not go on inside the shrine’s
gates and that the Bishop there
has struck hard at the commer
cial offenses.
TO MANY "TIME" readers
this will add grist to their anti-
Catholic prejudices. Few will
receive the true picture which
is the journalist’s obligation to
report. We can only anticipate
the clucking letters which will
appear as result. What a con
trast the letter recently received
from a Sister at Lourdes. Al
though it will never make an
edition of “Time,” we reprint
it as a study in contrast.
“How can I ever tell you of
the last three days. We tried to
make good use of every minute
of the time because we were
representing all of you and
wanted to earn as many graces
and blessings as we could. Our
hotel was about half a mile from
the grotto and through streets
you practically had to elbow
your way along. We made the
trip back and forth four times
a day. I just can’t put it on
paper — the hundreds of peo
ple praying in every language,
the sights of long jrows of
stretchers and wheel chairs at
the grotto and the procession of
the Blessed Sacrament, crowds
walking the steep Way of the
Cross in pouring rain. It was all
a sight you would see no place
in this world. On Sunday 6000
Little Singers chanted a solemn
Mass pontificated by the Card
inal of Paris. The new church
holds 20,000 people. It was pack
ed, all standing for the two hour
service. There was a sermon in
French, followed by a short one
in Spanish, another in Italian,
another in German, and a very
Sh
RANGE BUT TRU
.ittle-Known Fact* for
By M. J. MURRAY
Catholic*
Oopyrtfht. 1958, N.C.W.C. Non Svrrtoo
E
%e aerial
of ike
VATICAN
RADIO
STATION
IS UNIQUE —
IT IS IN THE
FORM OF A
CROSS.
fc I? lif.vmte
Di
THE AMBROSIAN RITE k
FOLLOWED IN MILAN if
CATHEDRAL,ITALY,
PERPETUATES THE EARLY
CHRISTIAN PRACTICE OF
ordaining laymen to minor order*
TO FULFILL SPECIFIC CHURCH TASKS —
THUS THE CATHEDRALS SIX ’’PORTERS
are ordained minor clerics who
WILL NOT ORDINARILY
BECOME PRIESTS.
&&&*■( i
THIS CHURCH AT GLEN DA LOUGH
— ONE OF ST KEVIN'S SEVEN
CHURCHES-DATES TO THE
CENTURY AND IS ONE OF
Ireland's Finest
PRESERVED BUILDINGS - ML
SHARING OUR TREASURE
Anti-Catholic Becomes Convert Apostle
By REV. JOHN A. O'BRIEN, Ph. D.
(University of Notre Dame) ---
(The University of Notre Dame)
When Herb Dir, a young grad
uate of Notre Dame, set a bud
dy of his at Fort Jackson, South
Carolina, straight on a number
of points of Catholic doctrine, he
little realized that he was
starting a
chain reaction
that has al
ready led four
persons into
the fold. It
shows how
important it is
for a Catholic
to answer
questions about the Faith, and
how often it leads the inquirer
into the Church.
Herb and his convert, Charles
H. Armstrong, are now in the
graduate school at Notre Dame
working for the M. A. degrees.
Knowing of my interest in con
verts, Charlie and his wife,
Helene, dropped into my office
for a visit, and here’s the inter
esting story that unfolded.
“I was reared,” began Charlie,
“in Elizabeth City, North Caro
lina, .where Catholics are few
and far between. My mother is
a Methodist and my father is
without any church affiliation.
But the Baptist Church hap
pened to be nearest, so I went
to its Sunday School and later
was baptized. After attending
the University of North Caro
lina and East Carolina College,
I entered the army at Fort Jack-
son, near Columbia, South
Carolina.
“In the same band, and also
playing trombone, was Herb
Dir, a Notre Dame graduate, I
had the wildest ideas about the
Catholic Church. I heard a
speaker at a Revivalist meeting
say that Catholics had no Bible.
I often heard it said that nuns
were kept prisoners and that the
bodies of infants were often dug
up from graves in the convent
yards.
“They were the typical Maria
type of horror stories so widely
circulated and believed in the
South. So I began to unload
on Herb. Then he really went
to work on me. He brought me
down to the Notre Dame Book
Store, run by the Vandergrifts,
and got me a copy of The Faith
short one in English. We all
consider it something like a
miracle to see at least 10,000 at
night carrying lighted candles
walking in procession . . . little
five years old toddle along with
their candles walking in proces
sion and very old people shuf
fle along with their candles and
no one gets burned. The Rosary
plaza in front of the old Bascil-
ica holds about 10,000. The pro
cession ends up there after sing
ing 60 verses of the Lourdes
hymn. The whole 10,000 boom
forth with the Creed and then
close with a goodnight hymn to
the Blessed Mother. After that
the group disperses almost in
silence. We had the privilege of
taking part in six processions.
During one evening procession,
it rained throughout but no one
paid the slightest attention.
They just walked right on sing
ing away and getting soaked.
There were no umbrellas.” Two
people visit Lourdes, you see.
One saw piracy and the other
piety.
of Millions, published by Our
Sunday Visitors, and a large
number of pamphlets.
“I devoured the book and
read a new pamphlet almost
every day. One pamphlet, How
lo Find Christ's Church, pub
lished by the Catholic Truth
Society of New York, was filled
with charts showing the Cath
olic Church to have been foun
ded by Christ. They were reve
lations to me. Then Herb took
me to Chaplain Robert F. Scully
and he instructed me and re
ceived me into the Church, with
Herb serving as sponsor at my
baptism.
“So enthusiastic was I over
my discovery that I wanted to
share it with everyone. I put
many Catholic pamphlets in the
reading room and interested
Allen Alexander, also in our
band. The Charleston diocese
was then conducting a Crusade
for Souls with every parish con
ducting an Information Class.
Allen attended the class at St.
Joseph’s, Columbia, conducted
by Father Dennis McKevlin. He
baptized Allen and I was his
godfather.
“Back at East Carolina Col
lege I interested Andrew W.
Caudill, then took him down to
St. Peter’s in Greenville where
Monsignor Charles Gable in
structed him and baptized him.
I was godfather again.
“After dating Helene Vaughan
who was then teaching near
Greenville, I interested her in
the Faith and then brought her
to Monsignor Gable’s Informa
tion Class. Three months later
he baptized her and I married
her. Now Helene is teaching in
Christ the King parochial
school and I’m teaching part
time at St. Joseph’s High
School.”
Four zealous converts! What
a precious chain reaction Herb
Dir started when he explained
the Faith to a fanatic anti-Cath-
olic, and replaced slander with
truth|
Norman J. Wrigley
Services in Atlanta
ATLANTA, Ga. — Funeral
services for Norman Joseph
Wrigley were held July 16th
at the Cathedral of Christ the
King, Msgr. Joseph Cassidy
officiating.
He was a member of the
Knights of Columbus, the Elks
BPOE, and the American Photo
Engravers Assn.
Survivors are his wife; daugh
ter, Mrs. Robert K. Shepard and
Mrs. C. J. Aycock, Jr., both of
Atlanta; sisters, Mrs. Joe Peer,
Mobile, Ala., and Mrs. Gregory
Murphy, Sr., of Atlanta; brother,
William H. Wrigley, Jr., of
Miami, and 16 grandchildren.
Services For
Mrs. J. F. Stanley
ALBANY, Ga. — Funeral
services for Mrs. James F. Stan
ley were held at St. Teresa’s
Church, Rev. Marvin J. Lefrois
officiating.
Mrs. Stanley was a member
of St. Teresa’s Church and the
Knights of Columbus Auxilliary.
Survivors are her husband,
James F. Stanley of Albany;
and a sister, Miss Bessie Bruce
Harris of Albany.
Illness Is Too Expensive
THE
The high cost of hospital and
medical care is causing grave
concern among the medical pro
fession and health insurance
groups, to say nothing of the
American people generally.
Hospital ad-
ministra t i o n
expenses have
been soring,
doctor’s fees
have been
going up and
new drugs
and diagnostic
and treatment
procedures are becoming in
creasingly expensive. In an
effort to keep up with the up
ward trend of medical care
costs, voluntary and commercial
health insurance companies have
increased premiums. Yet, many
are now finding that they must
further increase their charges
or curtail benefits under their
policies.
The cost of medical care,
which for a number of years be
fore the Second World War re
mained relatively stable, started
climbing after the war. In re
cent years it has risen higher
than any other item in the Con
sumer Price Index compiled by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
HOSPITAL COSTS
In April, 1958, the medical
care index reached 142.7, as
compared with an overall cost-
of-living index of 123.5. Of all
the elements in the care of the
sick the cost of hospitalization
has risen most sharply. A De
partment of Labor study cover
ing a 20-year period, 1936 to
1956, showed an over-all in-
BACKDROP
By JOHN C. O’BRIEN
crease of 85 per cent in the cost
of medical care. But hospital
rates in the same period jumped
265 per cent. This compared
with increases of 73 per cent in
general practitioners’ fees and
60 percent in surgeon’s fees.
Daily per-patient costs of
operating a general hospital in
the United States, on the aver
age, now amount to more than
$25. Hospitals in one state, for
example, report that their costs
have risen from $14 a patient a
day in 1948 to $*25.58 this year.
Much of the increased cost
represents a rise in payrolls.
Even so, hospital workers are
still paid less than comparable
workers in other institutions,
and hospital administrators
warn that further wage increases
will have to be granted if the
hospitals are to retain their em
ployes. A widespread need for
new expensive equipment will
further increase the outlay of
the hospitals.
The sharp rise in hospital
ization costs has thrown many
hospitalization insurance plans,
both voluntary and commercial,
into precarious financial con
dition. For example, the Blue
Cross organization, which reim
burses hospitals for services
furnished persons covered by
the plan has had a dig deeply
into reserve or increase charges
to subscribers.
In many states, the Blue Cross
has asked the state insurance
regulating agencies to permit
increases in premiums ranging
from 16% to 40 per cent. The
Blue Cross of Maryland, now
seeking a 20 per cent increase,
presented testimony to the state
regulating authorities to the
effect that 96 % per cent of the
money it took in from standard-
rate subscribers was needed to
pay hospital bills. Unless more
revenue was forthcoming, offi
cials of the organization testi
fied, the plan would exhaust
this year 40 per cent of reserves
that it took 20 years to build up.
IS RISE JUSTIFIED?
Health experts are sharply
divided on the question of
whether the sharp rise in the
cost of medical care is justified.'
While some critics have
accused the hospitals of in
efficiency, others hold that the
rise in hospitalization costs was
unavoidable. Hospital admini
strators point out that the
insurance plans have encour
aged the insured to insist oh
hospital treatment in cases
where it is not essential. An
official of the American College
of Surgeons has maintained that
provisions in insurance policies
for payment of surgeon’s fees
have led to the performance of
a high percentage of unneces
sary operations.
In any event, the health
insurance plans have reached
the point Where they are run
ning the risk of pricing them T
selves out of the market. If the
day comes when they cannot
provide insurance against medi
cal costs at a reasonable cost,
we may expect to see agitation
for a compulsory, tax-supported
health insurance plan compar
able to that in force in Great
Britain.
Expect To Be Tempted
This We Believe
Do you ever have temptations
against faith? Unless you are a
rare individual, you do. You
may be frightened at times by
the intensity of temptations.
Perhaps you look upon the
Sacred Host
at the Eleva
tion of the
Mass, and
suddenly out
of nowhere
comes the
question, “I
wonder it it’s
true, if Jesus
really is there?” Or possibly
you go to confession and as you
examine your conscience comes
a jab of doubt, “Can the priest
forgive my sins; or for that mat
ter does God really care what I
do?” Or maybe you stand by the
coffin of someone beloved and
there comes an awful feeling
that you’ll never see him again,
that this whole business of im
mortality is a lot of wishful
thinking, that when we’re dead
we’re dead period.
Temptations against faith may
vary in their frequent and in
tensity, but most of us do have
them. This is to be expected. If
he can undermine the very
foundation of our spiritual life,
why should the devil bother
with side-issue temptations
against chastity or charity or
justice — and maybe have us'
escape in the end through an
act of perfect contrition?
Of course the devil sometimes
must work through side-issue
temptations in order to get at
our faith. It is instinctive for
human nature to seek interior
peace. Inner conflict puts us
under terrific strain and it is im
mensely painful to live at war
with ourselves. If the devil can
make attractive to us a desire
that is contrary to our religious
ideals or beliefs, he has created
a state conflict. To find peace
we either must renounce the
desire, or we must convince our
selves that our religious princi
ples are mistaken.
Sometimes the forbidden de
sire is in plain sight where we
can see it: to date a divorced wo
man for example, or to use con
traceptives, or to hang on to a
hate, or to “get ahead” without
hindrance from conscience. At
other times the forbidden desire
may be a hidden one which we
have suppressed out of our con
scious mind. Then, not recog
nizing the conflict within, we
see only the end product: the
temptation against faith.
In human nature as God
planned it, there was complete
control of reason over desire.
Desire would awaken onl-y at
the command of reason. Desire
would seek its objective only
with the permission of reason
(By FATHER LEO TRESE)
and under reason’s guidance.
Original sin gravely disturbed
this harmony of interaction be
tween reason and desire. Not
only was there a weakening of
reason’s control, but reason’s
clarity of vision was obscured,
so that it no longer could judge
with absolute accuracy. It be
came possible for desire to dis
guise itself as good and to lead
its master, reason, where it
would; like an evil child leading
his drink-befuddled father to
disaster.
We should not of course con
fuse a weak faith with an inquir
ing faith. It is not a temptation
against faith to wonder, “Now
is that so?” or to ask, “How can
that be?” Thoughts like these
are good, if we will follow them
up and discover the answers.
God wants us to use the mind
He has given. He is pleased to
have us learn all that we can of
the truths that He has revealed.
Our only danger here is that
of pride — a reluctance to be
lieve just because we cannot
understand. Humility of mind is
essential to religious inquiry, a
humility based upon our real
ization that the finite human
mind never can plumb the
depths of the infinite mind of
God. The keenest human in
tellect, souring to the very
zenith of its capacity, will find
areas of mystery in God and
His ways, areas of Unknown
which must await eternity for
their knowing.
Assuming that we are doing
our best to live our faith, we
never should be frightened by
temptations against faith. Faith
is God’s gift, and He will not
revoke it or let us lose it
except by our own fault. In
deed, it is in being tempted and
in resisting temptation that we
gain grace and merit in the
practice of our faith. An un
troubled faith is something to be
envied; but an untroubled faith
may be only an untried faith,
not necessarily a strong faith.
When temptations to unbelief
do plague us, we should know
that this is a time to pray and
run. These temptations have
roots that are emotional or dia
bolical, and neither kind wil(
yield to reason. The time td
inquire and to reason about the
truths of faith is when we are
calm and emotionally secure.
Right now, in thjs moment of
temptation, we are like a man
standing under a street light
with shots coming at him from
the surrounding darkness. This
is not the time to be a hero, not
the time to stand and fight
against adversaries we cannot
see. ,*
It wisely has been said that
in temptations against faith, as
in temptations against purity,
victory is found in flight. So,
with a cry for help, “I do be
lieve, O Lord; help Thou my un
belief,” we run for cover. We
resolutely turn our thoughts to
neutral matters until temptation
has passed.
Men who borrow trouble find 1
the interest eats up the prin
cipal.
Eternal Truth is changing the
universe. — Mary Baker Eddy
0% HuUrtttt
416 8TH ST., AUGUSTA, GA.
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bishop-Bishop of Savannah, The Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta
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Second class mail privileges authorized at Monroe, Georgia. Send
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REV. FRANCIS J. DONOHUE REV. R. DONALD KIERNAN
Editor Savannah Edition Editor Atlanta Edition
JOHN MARKWALTER
Managing Editor
Vol- 39 Saturday, August 9, 1958 No. 5
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1957-1958
GEORGE GINGELL, Columbus President
E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President
MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President
TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta Vice-President
NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary
JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer
ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta _I__ Auditor
JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary