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THE BULLETIN -QF THE CATHOI.
' ,ic :layViEN ; s'AS^‘k^VfjilL(iEORGlA. I"
THE BULLETIN
le Official Organ ol the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
Published Semi-Monthly by the Publicity Department
Herald Building. Augusta. Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1921-1922.
H. Rico, K. S. G., Augusta •;; • •President
P. H Callahan, Louisville, Ky... .Honorary Vice-President
Haverty, Atlanta First Vice-President
PSJ. M.Callum, Atlanta Secretary
/mas S. Gray, Augusta. •• • • • * * • T 5®f su ^ er
jhahard Iteid, Augusta .Publicity Director
Piss Cecile C. Ferry, Augusta ...Assistant Publicity Director
MARCH 25, 1922.
NO. 5.
jiEntered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
ii'fice at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1879. Accepted
|r mailing at special rate of postage provided for m Section
to3, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1. 1921.
An Unchristian Sermon.
.he Macon papers of February 27 reported a ser-
_ms preached the day before in that city, in the
■>urse of which the preacher, a Methodist, is quoted
■—
paying:
do not like the Roman Catholic Church. I he
pjiod of worship, the droning of priests, the sprink-
I of water and many other practices look like
^fthenism with a veneer of Christianity. I do not
ieve in their organization, with infallible Pope,
.iuals, priests and so forth, through whom the
| c of God is supposed to be bestowed upon men. ’
this coming to our attention we wrote the Edi-
jf each of the Macon papers the letter printed
nother column of this number of The Bulletin,
it we wish to say here is, suppose a Catholic priest,
‘wing the example of this Methodist minister,
draw a parallel sketch of the Methodist
-thus:
i s* like the Methodist church. The mode of
S she shouting of preachers, the groaning of
II without Sacrament or Sacrifice, without emb-
sign to remind one of Christ and His Saints, j
like heathenism. I do not believe in their or-
zation, which is without a head, and whose
hops, elders, deacons and so forth, are not sup-
>d to help men to thef grace of God.”
IW would the Methodists feel about it?
the parallel fails in this; no Catholic priest
said such a thing / .to his congregation. Why
,:! one, when his congregation is not concerned
( the Methodist church, any more than it is
vrned about hundreds of other denominations?
is enough for Catholics to know their own re-
If ajgd observe its precepts. Did the Catholic
|,cli ; race her origin to any one but Jesus Christ,
p>re there any break in his history from the time
j hrist to the present time, or, had she need to
^elsewhere than to herself and ljer divine mis-
or her teaching and authority, there might be
>n for Catholics to be interested in other
hes and our priests might then preach ser-
them; but as matters are, there is no such
. ’-find it is not done.
/•iter has ben hearing sermons by Catholic
.11 his life, from week to week throughout the
|in different cities and in different States,
[ Catholics outnumbered all others together as
where they formed the'smallest part of the
lion, and he has never yet heard a sermon,
lo Protestant church.
a Prot'estant minister should feel the need
lacking to his congregation on the Catholic
instead of preaching about his own church,
■understanding, unless, indeed, he feels that
|uch cannot of itself be justified; that it can
and alone, on its own origin, its own history
own teaching. But that is a matter between
Lgher and his congregation. Our objection is
*"\p> paper publishing any preacher’s uncom-
remarks about another person’s church.
j. “The Bigoted South."
die, Mississippi, is in the heart of the well-
bigoted South.” It is not surprising, there-
I’dn when an inevitable Colonel put in an ap-
there a few weeks ago to organize a local
the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, he^ssa*
,1 the County Court House by an audience
™«tthundcred against Rome; repeated all
■‘charges against the Catholic Church
mfo air at an anti-CatholiC meeting, and
ji picture of the probable results of
^tempts of the Pope and bis followers
per cent Americans” beneath their
m-
Htplonel returned to his scat after his
audience was silent. His 'exposition of
■hat threaten America perhaps had made
•ss. Then arose Hon. LeRoy Percy, for-
fates Senator from Mississippi, and re-
Tivilegc of addressing the audience.
a terrible condition, Ex-Senator
Soke of the old Kit Klux Klan and
Vfigs. Then he turned his attention
jnents” of the Catholic Chinch.
®Encroachment on our government
’ d,” he said. “It al^fi^ '*"■ I look
around, t^fsee what they have done. Do yqq know
^hat' After teh years of domination by the grand
hierarachy of the Chijrch and that branch of. it
the K. of C, they jbijW panaged to get a hold on our
government? They have got John Cannon f on the
city council. He has lived here only fifty years, as
suredly not 1 long enough to go iittoi city county. They
have got Boots as constable. He is tainted; his wife is
a Catholic. And they have got Denny Shanahan as
deputy sheriff. They are creeping up on us. It took
them ten years to get that far. Where will a hundred
years take them?
“He says that if you let one of these Catholic wo
men teach our children, it is the same as if we had
sent our army over there and put it under the com
mand of the crown prince. We sent our army over
there and put it under the command of Foch, the
greatest general the world has^ ever ’produced, and a
Catholic.
“And the Knights of Columbus, I heard of the
Knights of Columbus on the battle fields of France;
I heard of them in the hospitals over there nursing
the boys, but I did not hear of the klan over there,
and no masks were worn there except gas masks.
“These people are coming in here to teach us how
to run our country and our affairs. They don t know
the great struggles we have been through in the ^ast
in this country and town of ours, They don t know
how Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, have
stood shoulder to shoulder in the midst of' the dan
gers and perils hrough which we have pasised; they
don’t know how, united, we faced the floods of the
mighty river; faced the scourge,of epidemic, faced
bankruptcy and trouble and poverty; they doh’t know
how together we have gone through joys and gone
through sorrows.
“The speaker said this is an organization of native
born, Gentile, Protestaht-Amcricans, and that it rep
resents Protestant-Americans. I deny these state
ments, and in behalf of Protestant-Americans, I re
pudiate the organization.”
Resolutions condemning the Ku Klux Klan and
calling on all good citizens to refuse to join; were
introduced by Dr. J. D. Smythe, also a non-Catholic,
and adopted with hardly ten dissenting voices. The
resolutions follow:
BE IT RESOLVED by the people of Washington
County, Mississippi, in mass meeting assembled, that
we do utterly condemn that organization called by
itself the Ku Klux Klan, but having no connection
with the real Ku Klux Klan, Which, having served
its usefulness dissolved many years ago, and that
we oppose the new organization and its activities in
our county for the following reasons:
“1. There is no need for sucli an organization in
this county at this time; it can ilo ,; no possible good.
i J*i>; * '• .-.‘.j j-;’ '
'2. Coming into our peaceful, Jaw abiding and mu
tually tolerant community, the present organization
with its disguises and 'masks, meant to conceal the
identity of its members and to terrorize the ignor
ant, its impertinent assumption of the right to judge
the private life of American citizens and to take such
action in the way of punishment as-it thinks proper,
is against the spirit of free institutions, against the
traditions and laws of our country, and is un-Ameri
can, However well-intentioned the motives of its
members,.its effect must be to breed hatreds and to
terrify tlie helpless and the ignorant. Nothing at
this time could be more disastrous to our people, more
filled with far-reaching and evil results than for the
organization to gain a foot-hold in our country.
“Be it resolved, we call on our citizens to refuse
to become members of the organization.”
District Deputy W r m. L. Evan? of the Mississippi
State Council Knights of Columbus, in a letter to
Supreme Secretary William J. McGinley of the
Knights of Columbus, giving an account of the meet
ing says: “I am proud of the action of my fellow
citizens anil the community in which I live, and I
want the world to know about it.”
A remarkable statement, that. Here is a Catholic,
a good Catholic, a leader in Catholic circles, proud y
the South! Many good people will qucstjflu. MEjudg-
ment. 'Jut they will be peopleyAjo do not live in
the South, never have' liveii-btSre, and mistake fancies
£@f _ '?acts or a part -f'frthe whole. We live in the
South; we know the South; we love the South. We
do not wish to make the mistake of magnifying a
passing ailment into organic trouble. We do not
wish our friends to make it. It is dishonest, as well
as uncharitable. \
DIXIE
MUSINGS
-JL
‘The Bulletin for March 10 carried
an editorial on the utterances of a
Georgia jurist who labeled suicide,
under certain conditions, a noble
act. We have since read stories in
Georgia papers declaring that the
Catholic Laymen’s Association has
condemned the judge for his state
ment?, and quoting tlie editor of
The Bulletin as saying that the edi
torial is “the official denunciation
of the Catholic church of the state”
and labeling it “the first official
cognizance of the utterances yet
made by the Catholic hierarchy in
the state, and, for that matter, the
first official recognition of the ju
rist’s words by any church or
creed.”
The Bulletin editorial did not con
demn anyone. That is not the
spirit which animates the Catho
lic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia. It objected decidedly to the
jurist’s utterances, and pointed out
the logical consequences of a sys
tem based on such principles. But
it did not denounce anyone.
Just to keep the record straight,
and not because he thinks it is real
ly necessary, the editor of The Bul
letin wishes it known that he is
not responsible for the statements
attributed to him and quoted above.
THE MAIL BAG
It has been a very mild winter,
too mild, in fact, if you were to
ask the Catholics of Moultrie. Some
time ago the members of the Moul
trie congregation installed a mod
ern heating plant in their- pretty
little church. Then they waited for
a cold “mass Sunday,” a Sunday on
which either Father Keenan or Fa
ther Van der Zon was scheduled to
come from Albany to celebrate mass.
The first thought df the congrega
tion on “mass-Sundays” was:. “Is it
cold this morning?” And the answer
invariably was “No.” So the weeks
passed. Christmas came; then win
ter began to blend with spring and
still no cold “mass-Sundays” in
Moultrie. And they were so anx
ious to test the new heating plant
in the little white enurch. Now, they
must wait until next winter. Per
haps they will have better luck
then.
They tell us a great deal about
the power of the press and the im
pression it makes on one. It is all
very true. And yet—a very intelli
gent, well-educated and observant
Augustan recently asked us which
is the tall one, lyjutt or Jeff.
Down in Mississippi there was
passed by the legislature some time
ago a “mortmain clause,” an amend
ment to the state constitution. Un
der the provisions of the clause be
quests or legacies to churches or
other religious organizations arc
prohibited. The Catholic church, it
seems, was getting too much money
through bequests and legacies, and
the measure was admittedly direct
ed against it. Now the backers of
the amendment find that they are
suffering more from the prohibition
than the Catholics, and have ap
pointed a committee to secure the
repeal of the bill. Which reminds
us of the story of Eutropius, min
ister and consul at Constantinople,
toward the end of the fourth cen
tury, under the Emperor Arcailius.
Entropius, in, his opposition to St.
John Chrysostom, bishop of Con
stantinople, attempted to abolish
the right of sanctuary, or the privi
lege a criminal or one suspected of
crime had of being immune from
arrest in a church. In January, 399,
Eutropius fell into disgrace, and the
people of Constantinople rose up
against him. Learning of their
anger, lie fled to a church. The
pepple seemed little disposed to
spaye-'hun* since he had no respect
■for"the right of sanctuary, but they
were persuaded to respect' the privi
lege by St. John Chrysostom, who
preached his famous sermon on Eu
tropius on this occasion. The Cath
olics of Mississippi may, in like
manner, help to save the anti-Catli-
olics from themselves and their own
senseless law.
The Macon papers recently pub
lished an account of a sermon de
livered in a Methodist Church in
that city, and to which the Catho
lic Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia felt bound to object. The fol
lowing letter, which, by the way,
neither paper printed, was written
to the editors of The Telegraph and
The News:
Dear Sir:—You are well ac
quainted with the secular news
papers published in Georgia
and elsewhere. I wish, there
fore, to ask you a question.
Did you ever see, in a secular
newspaper published anywhere,
that a Catholic priest in his ser
mon had criticized a Protest
ant denomination, comparing
the Protestant religion to
heathenism or the like?
Of course you never did. But
in your paper for February 27,
you quote Dr. Ellis of the Mul
berry Street Methodist Church
as saying in a sermon the Sun
day before: I do not like the
Roman Catholic Church. The
method of worship, the dron
ing of priests, the sprinkling
of water and many other prac
tices look like heathenism with
a veneer of Christianity. I do
not believe in their organiza
tion, with infallible Pope, car
dinals, priests and so forth,
through whom the grace of God
is supposed to be bestowed
upon men.”
If Catholic priests criticize
Protestant churches in that way
why do you not publish their
statements? If Catholic priests
do not criticize Protestant
churches, why should you pub
lish in a secular paper a Protes
tant preacher’s criticism of the
Catholic Church.
The preachers have their pul
pits ; also their denominational
phpers. These should be ample
''enough to publish the uncom
plimentary remarks they feel
obliged to make about a rel-
ligion not their own. When a
secular paper undertakes to
give them a larger audience, it
should, in my opinion take care
not to publish remarks that
must be unwelcome, if indeed
they are not cause of resent
ment, to a large number of its
readers.
These observations arc re
spectively submitted for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
Some of the things St. Jerome said to Roman
society in tlie fourth century, would find application
today. For example, he. inveighs i against. Christian
women “who smear their face add eyes with every
kind of powder, and who, like idols, make for them
selves faces of plaster, whiter than nature, upon
which, if they happed to shed a tear, a furrow Would
at once appear on their cheek,” or against’ those to
whom, though years have come, they cannot under
stand that they are old; who raise edifices of false
hair on their heads and conceal their wrinkles u
der a lying semblance of youth; who, trembling
age, give themselves the airs of young girls
midst ofLUipip own grandchildren.”
jJHHK
Episcopal Humor
(From The New York Herald.)
One of the best known and best
loved members of the clergy of any
denomination in the South is Bishop
John E. Gunn, who was for many
years pastor of the Church of the
Sacred Heart in Atlanta, but who
is now the Bishop of Natchez, Miss.
Probably the distinguishing charac
teristic of Bishop Gunn, apart of
course, from religious affairs, is a
delightful sense of humor which he
is always ready to employ for his
friends.
On one occasion a young priest
in Atlanta had preached a sermon ,
on the Holy Trinity, during the
course of which he digressed to
point out that combinations of the
number 3 are to be found every
where around us. He spoke of the
sun, moon and stars; of water, land
and air; of the animal, mineral and
vegetable kingdoms; of the hills,
plains and valleys; of the lakes,
streams and oceans. He found/
many others and mentioned them
all; as he thought.
_ .jA-itCCAhtr-SeTTr,on several priests
were complimenting the young
priest upon his sermon. Father
Gunn remained silent. Finally one
of them asked:
“Father Gunn, can you think of
any combination of three which be
failed to mention in the sermon?”
“Well,” replied Father Gunn with
a twinkle, “he failed to say that
three strikes are out.”
At the Augusta Chronicle is a desk
used during his lifetime by Hon.
Patrick Walsh, at one time United
States senator from Georgia, the
man after whom the Augusta Coun
cil, Knights of Columbus, is named,
and the editor of The Chronicle un
til bis death a generation ago. The
desk was saved in the fire of 1891,
stored away, and recently rediscov
ered. Thomas D. Murphy, associ
ate editor of The Chronicle and
former grand knight of the Augusta
council, Knights of Columbus, now
has the honor of working ■ at the
desk of his former chief, an honor
of which he is extremely proud. So
says in his “Talking It Over” cob
, which has been , a GeorJjj
tion so far back that t
f man runneth not t*
Dr. J. W. Leigh is an English
Dean whose greater claim to dis
tinction is the possession of an
American nephew in Owen Wistcr,
the novelist. In a new autobiogra
phy the Dean tells a number of
interesting stories, one of which
concerns James Weston, an Ameri
can teetotal pedestrian. A man
came up to him at a temperance
meeting and said, “How are you, Mr.
Weston?” “Quite well, thank you,
sir,” Weston replied. “Do you
know who I am?” said the man.
“I am a converted wife-beater, a con
verted drunkard, a convertel dog-
stealer, and a converted pugulist.
■to you think of that?” Wei
"ered Weston, T **“ess thertyj
ou Ofe |