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THE BULLETIN- OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen's Association
of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor
Published Semi-Monthly by the Publicity Department _
M09 Lamar Bldg. Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
„ ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1921-1922.
P- H. Rice, K. C. S. G., Augusta President
Col. P. H. Callahan. K.S.G., Louisville. Ky...Hon. Vice-Pres.
*L J. Haverty, Atlanta Firdt Vice-President
*. McCallum, Atlanta Secretary
Thomas S. Gray, Augusta *;• • • .Treasurer
Richard Reid. Augusta Publicity Director
Miss Cecile C. Ferry, Augusta ...Assistant Publicity Director
VOL. IV. JUNE 30, 1923 NQ - 12
Enttrcd as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1879. Accepted
for moiling at special rate of postage provided for in Section
J103, Act of October 3. 1917, authorized September 1, 1921.
The Divorce Evil.
VI.
Some Facts.
The Mens Retreat.
The announcement that a retreat for men will be
conducted at Sacred Heart College, Augusta, from
Thursday evening, July 12, to Sunday morning, July
15, brought not only satisfaction but joy to those
who were fortunate enough to participate in the
benefits of the men’s retreat under the direction ol
Father Carey of the Jesuit Fathers at Augusta last
year and of Father McCreary at Macon the year pre
vious.
Twenty men attended the first retreat, held in
July, 1921, at St. Stanislaus College, Macon, the Je
suit novitiate which was destroyed by fire a few
months later. The burning of the novitiate, serious
enough in itself, brought additional grief to the
members of the first retreat class, who feared that
it might mean the suspension of the retreat move
ment, for it was Father de Potter, S. J., president
of St. Stanislaus, and Father Sailer, S. J., master
of novices, who gave the promoters of the retreat
the co-operation that meant its success.
Last year, in spite of apparently insurmountable
difficulties, a second retreat for men was held, this
time-at Sacred Heart ollegc, Augusta, through the
interest of Father Ryan, S. J., pastor of Sacred
Heart Church, who turned the class rooms of Sa
cred Heart College into dormitories for flic retreat-
ants. The twenty retreatants of the first year in
creased to thirty-eight, and the exereitants went
home with the feeling that the retreat movement in
the Diocese of Savannah had come to stay.
Every man who made the retreat last year has ex
pressed his intention of returning for the 192J re
peat, and several have already made reservations.
When they finished the retreat last year they felt
that there was only one thing that stood between
them and perfect satisfaction with the retreat, and
that was the fact that every Catholic in Georgia did
not have the pleasure of experiencing the spiritual
joys the retreaf brought. They could go back and
tell their friends ab.out it, but to be appreciated a re
treat must be lived. It is to those who have not
known the joys of a retreat that this appeal is being
made; no appeal to the others is necessary.
Every business man knows the importance of tak
ing stock at certain periods during the year. Not to
do so would be regarded ns the height of folly. Every
Catholic knows how important it is to take account
of stock spiritually at certain times, and these cer
tain times are times of retreats. No man dispenses
with stock-taking because, he is too busy. No think
ing man dispenses with spiritual stock-taking on the
score that he is too busy. Man’s chief business is
saving his immirtal soul; his other businesses are
merely means to reach this end.
The retreatants will enter Sacred Heart ollege
Thursday evening, July 12, and stay there until Sun
day morning following. All meals will he provided
at the college. There is no stated fee for the retreat,
board and lodging; a private voluntar offering may
be dropped in a box the last day of the retreat. The
retreat master th isycar will he Very Rev. E. J. Cum
mings, S. J., president of Loyola University, New Or
leans, one of the most gift,ed pulpit orators in Amer
ica, who leaves the large summer school he heads
in order to conduct the retreat for the laymen of
Georgia. The last day of the retreat, Captain P. H.
Rice, K. . S. G., president of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, will be officially invested with
the honor of Knighthood in the Order of St. Gregory,
and honor bestowed on him by the late Pontiff, Pope
Benedict XV. Misliop Keyes, Rt. Rev. Michael J.
Keyes, I). I)., bishop of Savannah, will invest Captain
Rice with his high honor.
Later in‘ the season, at a dale not yet decided, the
women of the diocese will attend a retreat at Mount
De Sales Academy, Macon. Notice will be given
when arrangements are made. In the meantime, the
women of the diocese can do their share toward mak
ing the men’s retreat a success by promoting the re
treat for men. Men who intend to attend the retreat
at Augusta, July 12 to 15, should clip the application
blank from this issue of The Bulletin, and forward it
to 1409 Lamar Building at once.
“Come all ye that labour and are burdened and I
will refresh you,” our Lord invtied nineteen hundred
years ago.™ He repeats that call now; will you heed
it by coming to Augusta for the retr eat A
The number of divorces granted in the United
States per one hundred thousand of the population in
1896 was sixty-two; in 1906, eighty-four; in 1916, one
hundred and twenty.—a clear one hundred per cent
increase in twenty years. /
The actual number increased even faster than the
percentage, requiring only ten years to double. In the
one year of 1906, seventy thousand divorces were
granted in our copntrv. That is said to have been
twice as. many as were granted during the same period
in all other Christian nations combined. And yet, in
the year 1916, the number for the United States ex
ceeded one hundred and fifteen thousand. Since 1916,
complete statistics for the entire country are not as
yet available; but it is notorious that divorces have
increased at a rapid pace, and from the information
that is available it seems conservative to put the num
ber granted in 1922, considerably above the hundred-
and-fifty-thousand mark.
Nor is there anything to indicate that the number
of married couples who have recourse to one or an
other of our three thousand divorce courts, on one
or another of the fifty-odd grounds named in the dif
ferent statutes, will not continue to increase from
year to year. The complexities of social life are in
creasing; the points of friction in domestic life are
multiplying; the impulse to freedom within married
life is growing; while industrial, political, economic
and educational developments all tend more and more
to disregard the family unit in society. Moreover,
public sentiment is no longer hostile to divorce; the
newspapers do not condemn it; the preachers,isave a
few, do not denounce it; the reformers, busying them
selves with ten thousand other things, do not notice
it; the novel, the drama, the cinema, and the feature
writers for the magazines and Sunday Supplements,
all rather extol it; no special circle is closed to those
who practice it; no voice, save one, in all the land
is lifted to declare the moral law, to exhort the people
or to warn the nation, against the continual spread of
this evil that already is strewing our country’s path
way with the wreckage of a million homes in ten
years.
In the meantime, juvenile courts multiply; juvenile
crimes increase; incorrigible, delinquent and pervert
ed youths constitute a problem that grows more and
more serious in every community; while our three
thousand divorce courts increase their daily grind of
judgments that deprive children of father or mother,
to allow some stranger set over them in place of the
guardian that God and nature ordained.
More and more, the parent is displaced, the family
disappears, the child becomes a ward of the State,
and the individual is absorbed in the collective body
of the nation, with home attractions all ^one, with
moral ties cut asunder, with natural affections stifled
or perverted, and with his highest aspirations bent
upon politics, industry, business, or some fancied re
form by which he imagines that society, having dis
carded the means God gives, can lift itself by its own
bootstraps.
Even for the man, monogamy is in the highest sense
natural. His moral, spiritual and aesthetic faculties
obtain their best development only when his. marriage
relations arc confined to one woman, in the common
life and the endearing association of the home.
Plural wives, in spite of a chancellor’s decree, divide
and weaken his affections and all his interest in
society. They make his home less exclusive and there
fore less attractive, less united and therefore less per
manent.
One wife conduces to the establishment of per
manent relations in society. There is a single abode
that concenters all of the affections; a natural group
united under one head; mutual respect, confidence
and esteem; joint interests and aim and endeavor;
substantial pride of family; a common inheritance;
a home! wherein are definite and fixed relations, all
rooting deeper and deeper into the secret and invisible
springs of social action as time goes and generations
come.
Here is a perfect unit of society, from which rad
iate all those forces and activities that keep the social
body alive, active, healthy and vigorous. Here Hi the
spring of patriotic devotion, that makes man willing
not merely to die in the hotblood of battle, but to
labor and toil and make sacrifice in the calm of
peace for the welfare of his country, because he and
till that is dearest to him are so strongly devoted to a
fixed, permanent and common idea. The public ser
vice can count on such a man, although he be only
an average ipan. He can always be found. Hij inter
ests arc not divided. His affections are not uncer
tain. There is a singleness of purpose -in life that
is like the taproot of a tree.
The welfare of the children, and therefore of the
race, demands that the offspring of eacli pair shall
have the undivided attention, protection and care of
both of their parents, until the age of maturity. The
verdict of experience and the voice of nature rein
force the Christian teaching on the unity of marriage
and the purity and stability of of the marriage bond.
History shows us in a thousand ways that when na
tions begin to sneer at the virtue of marriage, their
race is run.
God, and not civil law or social custom, created the
family, and God will bring disaster upon any society
that attempts or suffers its destruction.
Well-wishers of Russia will be
pleased to learn that the Soviet Gov
ernment maintains that her terri
torial waters extend to twelve miles
from her coast line, whereas the in
ternational agreement on territorial
waters places three miles as the
limit. Their pleasure arises from the
fact, that in this case the Reds are
only three hundred per cent wrong,
indicating a decided comparative
improvement in the reasoning pow
ers of the Moscow Government.
Some American Catholics seem to
think they live in England, where
the law requires that the King be
a member of the Protestant faith.
Governor Burke would have been
elected vice-president with Presi
dent Wilson if it were not for the
trafficking of a few Catholic poli
ticians, who thought that a Catho
lic candidate would “weaken” the
ticket. It is immaterial whether the
chief executive of this nation is a
Catholic, a Protestant or a Jew, pro
vided he is equipped mentally, phys
ically and morally, to hold this high
office.
K. K. K. KONKOKD
(From the Quitman, Ga., Press)
The konspTcuous lack of kloncord
in the K. K. Klan is resulting in a
line of kleavage that makes for kon-
stant konflict. We don’t know- what
the password of the hooded knight*
is, but it should be “Who Bang that
last brick? ’
Georgia Knights of Columbus are
doing a fine work in increasing
interest in American and local his
tory among school children. Some
time ago Savannah Council offered
three prizes, one of ten dollars in
gold, and two of two dollars and a
half for the best essays on the his
tory of Savannah. Miss Mary Mar
garet Wiehrs, 14, of the eighth
grade of the Sacred Heart parochial
school, was awarded first prize, the
judges being W. A. Rooks, grand
knight, Mrs. Thomas F. Walsh, Jr.,
Joseph A. Sweeney, J- T. McCul
lough and Elmore Curtis. The sec
ond prizes went to William Bischoff
13, eighth grade, of the Marist
School, and Ignatius Allen, eighth
grade, Marist School. Now comes
the announcement that James Har
vey won a four week’s stay at the
Marist Camp in North Georgia by
winning the Fourth Degree Assem
bly, Knights of Columbus, historical
contest in Atlanta.
AN APPEAL TO PREJUDICE.
Worth County, (Ga ) Local.
The Ku-Klux Klan is having
trouble because it is looked on with
suspicion. In Texas and in other
States, where a great deal of law
lessness has been committed in its
name, a large element of the law-
abiding people are up in arms again
st the Klan. Judges have rightly
denounced it from the bench and
Governors have urged legislation
looking for its supression. It*
founders cunningly conceived it in
name and masked secrecy that would
appeal to the unthinking, to passion
and prejudice and the base attribute*
that rest in the breast of the ignor
ant. If the organization is respon
sible for the crimes charged to it,
it should be stamped out as one
would a rattlesnake hiding in til#
grass. This land of liberty and jus
tice has no place for such an organi
zation.
The reputation of the Marist
Camp in North Georgia grows daily.
At first it was known only in At
lanta, and then the other cities of
the state became acquainted with
it through reports of local boys who
spent summer periods there. Now
its fame is spreading to other states,
and secular papers in Alabama are
referring to it approvingly. Father
Horton, pastor of Sacred Heart
Church, Atlanta, with which the
Marist School and Camp is connect
ed, is enthusiastic about the sum
mer resort pos, 'Hlities of North
Georgia in the luighborhood of the
camp. He believes it preferable to
the widely advertised resorts of
Maine, and as he comes from Maine
lie is more or less of an authority
on the climate of the Pine Tree
state.
The Joel Chandler Harris Me
morial Association dedicated a tablet
to the great Southern writer, June
8th. The exercises were held on
the lawn of the Harris home, Wren’s
Nest, where he found his inspiration
for the deathless stories that have
delighted numberless children. “This
tablet is not dedicated to a dead
man,” said Col. Frederick Paxon
chairman of tlie association’s ad
visory committee, who delivered the
address on the occasion, ’“but to
man who still lives and breathes
for he has written his very life into
the hearts of us all.” Children from
the Joel Chandler Harris and other
public schools were present at the
exercises. A son of Joel Chandler
Harris, Evelyn Harris, is a member
of the publicity committee of
the Catholic Laymen’s Associa
tion of Georgia. The writer himself
was led by the example of his wife,
who is still living, to enter the
church before his death, being bap
tized ' by Father Jackson of St.
Anthony’s Church, Atlanta. His only
regret was that he had postponed
his action so long.
INTERESTING STATISTICS
From the Dalton, Ga., Citizen.
Peddling lies sometimes proves
profitable. According to the Fed
eral Council of Churches there are
in the United States only 18,104,804
Catholics. According to the Catho
lic Directory there are 18,260,793
and yet a few blatant ignoramuses
go up and down the highways and
byways proclaiming that ninety
per cent of the American news
papers arc controlled by Catholics.
They also go further and say the
public schools are menaced by the
Catholics.
The figures above presented are
the best answer to such barefaced
falsehoods, unless the Protestants
want to admit that they are infer
ior, impotent and helpless in the
presence of their Catholic brethren.
Here we have in America 23,253,-
854 Methodists, 22,869,098 Baptists,
7,043,854 Lutherans and 6,726,593
Presbyterians, making a total of
59,893,404. There are other Protest
ant churches with quite a good num
ber of communicants not set down
by the Federal Council. Over half
the. population of the United States
is Protestant.
Say, for sake of argument, that
the American newspapers are mer
cenary and for sale, and they are
not, would they not prefer to sell
themselves to the biggest crowd?
What fools people make of them
selves when they open their mouths
and speak without either thinking
or knowing.
THE K. OF C. OATH.
From the Valdeista, Ga., Times.
The Knights of Columbus deny
that the “infamous oath” that has
been circulated by ehemies Of the
Catholics is the oath which they
take in their ceremonials, and they
offer a reward of $5,000 to the per
son or organization which can pro
duce evidence t’o the contrary. This
oath, if we remember correctly,
was inserted in the Congressional
Record during a debate on the sub
ject, and since thehn its authentic
ity has been credited to the Record.
“The story of how a group of
young men who gathered at inter
vals under av lamp-post grew into
one of the most powerful and in
fluential Catholic organizations in
the United States was told at the
fortieth anniversary of the founda
tion of the Young Men’s Institute
here last week.” So said a story
sent out from San Francisco in May-
It is interisting bliiefly because it
is so unusual. Usually groups of
young men who gather evenings un
der lamp-posts end up in old men’s
homes instead of Young Men’s In
stitutes.—R. R.
A copy of a college magazine has
reached us with a covering note to
the effect that the Catholic press
should be particularly interested in
its distribution. It is equally true
that college magazines should be in
terested in the distribution of the
Catholic press. But so far as my
experience goes, college magazine*
are much too self-centered to notice
the existence of diocesan Catholic
papers except occasionally (as in the
present instance) when assistance iB
needed.
FATHER AMBROSE.
From the Savannah, Ga., News.
In his stay in Savannah leather
Ambrose, head of Benedictine Col
lege, has established a reputation
for learning and energy and sincer
ity that have won him many friends
not only among the members of the
Catholic church but also among Sa-
vannahians generally. He is known
as a deep student, a thoughtful
reader, an excellent teacher, and it
is perhaps the fact of his close at
tention to duty that has made it
necessary for him to be transferred
to a different sort of work! his
eyes having suffered. When he
leaves Savannah next month he will
carry with him the best wishes of
Savannahians for a complete restor
ation of his former strength of
physical vision.