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14 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA anything nor dodge any historic or other difficulties which I proposed to him. During the days that fol lowed our first meeting, he loaned me books treating of various dogmas of the Catholic faith. We also studied the Catechism, which he explained article after article. We had many and long talks together. In a word he treated me just as I, a Protestant pas tor, was in the habit of treating the many Chinese who came to me at my chapels to inquire all about the Christian faith as I taught it. At the same time he was also unconsciously show ing me the nobility, elevation, sincerity, learning, self-abnegation, grandeur and holiness of the Catho lic priesthood. How different from my deformed and preconceived Protestant ideas! I profited well of my opportunity, for, I think, during the course of our conferences, I mentioned all the reasonable and unreasonable objections I had ever known or could think of against the Catholic Church. I was aston ished to find how utterly false were all my hostile conceptions of Catholicism, and how- ignorant I was of what the Church believed, taught and practiced. But how could it have been otherwise? I had never had even a Catholic friend, and all I had heard and learned in earlier days was through Protestant sources. Now, at least, I was in a position to see both sides of the question and judge impartially as to which was right. I knew the Holy Scriptures very well, and I saw from that standpoint in reference to such important questions as Baptism, the Holy Eucharist, the prom ise of Infallibility made by Christ to St. Peter, the power to absolve from sin, etc., that the Catholic Church had the best of the argument, and that Prot estant exegetes had warped and twisted the Scrip tures to prove theories utterly foreign to primitive Christianity. And if they treated the inspired word of God thus, it is not surprising to find that they garbled, misquoted, and rejected wholesale the Fath ers of the Church. This so-called ‘’Reform” had re sulted in an absolute denial of some of the most com mon doctrines of the Christian faith! Indeed with their preconceived theories and system of eclecticism, those “Would-be Reformers” had set up a Church which Christ and the Apostles had never known. More clearly than ever was it borne in upon my mind, that the Christian religion being a divine reve lation, and not a system of human philosophy, was bound to have but one meaning, and in order to pre serve that message incorrupt, some official authority was absolutely necessary. If God had confided the preservation of the faith to numerous discordant sects, it was a fact too evident to deny that one could any longer know the contents and import of the original revelation made by Christ. (To be continued) MISS MARY ANN DEIGNAN The Catholic Church in Georgia has lost one of her most devoted children in the recent death of Miss Mary Ann Deignan, of Columbus, who was called to her eternal reward on the 29th of June last. Miss Deignan had been for forty-nine years a teacher in the Columbus Public Schools, and was just rounding out her golden jubilee year when God called her home. She was born in Columbus and spent her entire life in that city, and entered the service of the Pub lic School system in 1872—just ten years after it was instituted in Columbus. It is doubtful if any teacher was more capable or more faithful ttmn she: and Columbus and other places in the South number by the hundred those who as her former pupils look back upon the years spent in her class room with affection and gratitude to the one who helped to guide them in the right path of education. As one of these former pupils of hers I can testify to her worth. Well do I remem ber her firmness, mingled with kindness; her strict discipline, nrrgled with a genial disposition which took away all semblance of harshness; in short, the perfect Teacher. 5 If there was anything which could surpass her complete mastery of the art of training children, it was her outspoken loyalty to what she knew and believed to be right and true; and this in matters of her religion no less than in matters of history or general subjects of the day. Though not at that time of the household of the faith—on the contrary rather opposed to it than otherwise—even from my self as from all other pupils, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish—Miss Mary Ann Deignan was respected and admired for her loyalty and devotion. It is such. Catholics as these that have done most for the cause of the Church in Georgia. Our preach ing may reach the ears and hearts of the few; but lives such as hers was are after all the greatest and strongest argument. J. D. M„ V. G. JOHN C. HARTFELDER DEAD John C. Hartfelder, one of the best known Knights of Columbus in the Southeast, and recently appointed district deputy of the order for the Southern District of Georgia, by State Deputy John B. McCallum, died suddenly Saturday evening, July 23, at his home in Savannah. The funeral was held Monday morning, July 25, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Savannah. The Knights of Columbus attended in a body. Interment was at Cathedral Cemetery. A STATE ORGANIZATION OF CATHOLIC WOMEN MRS. ELISE HEYWARD HOWKINS. By A State organization of Catholic women will be a fine move on the part of our Georgia women. The appeal for such an organization has been most strong for a long while, but at the present time it seems imperative. Woman’s power and strength in a com munity are recognized fully, and the same unified effort in the interest of our State seems most vital— I might almost say necessary. This fact was most pronounced during the World War—when the wom en were being systematically grouped where best suited to their efforts for all branchs of work, the question was very naturally asked, to whom should anpeal be made? Who was head of the Catholic Women’s organization in Georgia? Of course the answer was—there is none.. We women realized then, and more fuly is that fact borne in upon us now, that we should be united in a Georgia Catholic Women’s organization with membership eligible to all Catholic women individually as well as to Catho lic Clubs. I am a firm believer in organization. The power of the ballot is ours, woman’s influence is al ways for the highest and best, her intuition depen dable, in fact she makes a splendid citizen, and I do not see how men ever accomplished half they did for good in this world without her side by side' to help, guide and counsel. We have seen the good results from groups of men banded together, first in City, second in State, and then in National societies. Women’s clubs through federation do such excellent work, for education, civics, child welfare, public health, and reform legislation. What is expected and what they can do is unlimited. This Georgia organization of Catholic Women would of course be affiliated with the Federation of