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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 9 olics would be bound to accept it. Considering that the “deposit of faith,” by which term we mean the Revelation made by Christ, is complete and closed, and that Papal Infallibility is confined to declaring what is the faith delivered by Christ and contained in that deposit, the minister’s assertion recalls a remark I often heard from the lips of my good mother: “Pigs might fly, but they are unlikely birds.” With regard to the claim that it was a new doc trine only defined and proposed in 1870, jt brings me back to the question: Where is the box? As already stated, the Catholic Church always and of necessity claimed that she was infallible in teaching, else she could not demand that all should hear her. The only question was: Where does the Infallibility re side? Was it in the Bishops assembled in a General Council? But there was great difficulty in assembling the Bishops from every land. Suppose the Great War came on after a call had been issued this would en tail a great delay at a time when a prompt and de cisive reply was necessary. On the other hand, as no Council could be held without the approval and sanc tion of the Pope and no Act or Decrees of a Council were of any force or value unless approved by him, it seemed as though the seat of infallible authority was in the Pope. And so to settle this question Pope Pius IX. summoned the Bishops from all parts of the world to meet and advise with him on December 8, 1869. It was a great and memorable occasion when Prelates from every land met in Rome, and recalled the Pentecostal scene: “How we heard every man in his own tongue wherein we were born, Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopo tamia, Judea and Cappodocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the part of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and Pros elytes, Cretes and Arabians; we have heard them speak in our own tongue the wonderful works of God (Acts II-8-1 1). Every country in the world sent its Bishops to Rome. Nearly every tongue spoken by men was heard in Rome, but all voiced in different tongues the same Faith, and in the Council Hall one language only was heard, the language of our dear Mother the Church in Rome. There were many Bishops there old and broken by hard labor for God and His Church. Some who in Eastern lands had suffered for the Faith. From East and West, from North and South they came at Peter’s voice to tell him what their fathers had handed down as the heritage of Faith from the very days of the Apostles. Jerusalem was there and Antioch, Babylon and Alexandria. From Syria, the cradle of Christianity, came Bishops who told a story of almost unbroken tradition of what had been taught about Peter and his successors. Constan tinople and Cilicia, Ancyra and Aleppo, Armenia and Tyre and Sidon were all there; and Jaffa and Damas cus were there. Yes, and New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and San Francisco were there. And Montreal and Quebec and Halifax were there. London and Liver pool, Dublin and Armagh, Edinboro and Glasgow were in Rome. Paris* and Lyons, Orleans and Mar seilles, Mechlin and Bruges, Utrecht, Aix-la-Chapelle, Munich, Milan, Florence were there. Every land in Eu rope sent its Bishops. The great colonies of Eng land and the Isles of the Pacific, Mexico and South America were represented in Rome that 8th of De cember, 1870. And when they gathered around Peter’s Chair, Pius, the successor of Peter, asked them what had always been the teaching of their churches on Peter’s office of Shepherd and Teacher. And this was the answfer these men gave: “Faithfully adher ing to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian Faith, for the glory of God, our Saviour, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and the salvation of Christian people, the Sacred Council ap proving, we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed that the Roman Pontiff when he speaks ex Cathedra,’ that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal church, by the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrines re garding faith and morals, and that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves and not from the consent of the Church.” It is fifty years since this definition was made. Scripture and reason proved its truth. Time and cir cumstance have justified its expression. INFORMATION FREE. A Plea for Peace. Catholics in Georgia. Catholics in American History. Catholic Belief. Catholics and Marriage. Catholics and the Bible. The Pope and the War. Catholicism and Politics. Catholics and The Pope. Catholics and the Public Schools. The above booklets giving information about Cath olics and their attitude towards questions of the day will be sent you gratis upon request. All questions about Catholics and their belief an swered. Address, The Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, 409 Herald Building, Augusta, Ga. Bishop Keiley’s letter against lynching, as published in The Atlanta Constitution, drew warm commenda tion from its editor. This is most certainly one point whereon every denomination in Georgia can whole heartedly unite. The notoriety of leading the whole country in the number of lynchings is not creditable to Georgia, nor to any of us living in the state, no matter where we go to church.