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AUGUST 30, 1924.
THE BULLETIN OF THE C 4THOLIC LAYMAN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THE BULLETIN
The Ofifcial Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
Published Semi-Monthly by the Publicity Department with
'he Approbation of the Rt. Rev. Bishops of Belmont, Charles
ton, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and Natchez.
1409 Lamar Building. Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
m FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
b. T. Mattingly, Walton Bldg Atlanta, Ga.
* „ ASSOCIATION OFFCERS FOR 1923-24.
P- H. RICE, K. C. S. G.. Augusta President
COL. P. H. CALLAHAN, K.S.G., Louisville, Ky.Hon.Vice-Pr.
'• «*• HAVERTY, Atlanta First Vice-President
J. R. McCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer.
RICHARD REID, Augusta ....Publicity Director
MISS CECILE C. FERRY, Augusta Asst. Publicity Director
V °L. V. AUGUST 30, 1924 NO. 16
. -——j-
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March. 1879. Accepted
for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section
1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1921.
Things That Are Not So.
The Bulletin has been disturbed for the past seve
ral weeks by reports drifting in from various parts
of thp country about a'nti-Catholic outrages in Eliza
beth City, North Carolina, where Sisters of the Humi
lity of Mary recently took over the local hospital.
Several of our contemporaries carried the story. “As
a bit of spite work, before the arrival of the Sisters,
the Hospital was looted, filth being left around and
even the food for the sick was carried off,” one of
the accounts from a paper in Ohio read. Other papers
went more into detail, recot ding threats against the
Sisters and numerous other evidences of malice, and
fears for the safety of the Sisters were expressed.
The Bulletin could not reconcile these reports with
previous authentic information it had received. We
were told by North Carolina priests that the Sisters
had been invited to Elizabteh City to take over the
hospital; that the doctors and civic bodies were co
operating with them, and that the best of spirit to
ward the Sisters had been manifested. Neither could
we reconcile the reports Of the treatment accorded
the Sisters with what we know about the chivalry
of Carolinians and Southerners in general. But they
persisted, so we started out to find out how wrong
we were.
“Your letter of inquiry is quite welcome,” wrote a
North Carolina pastor more familiar than anyone
else, perhaps, with conditions in Elizabeth City, “as
it affords me the opportunity to correct several pecu
liar errors regarding the hospital in Elizabeth City.
“Aside from the awkardness incident to any change
of management, I am certain that nothing out of the
way took place. Those interested in the old hospital
could scarcely have been expected to, know just what
plans the occupants had. Hence the development
of the odd and much exaggerated situation.
“The representative people of the city most -cer
tainly arc not opposed to having the Sisters there.
Indeed, they may be said rather to encourage the good
Sisters in their good work. I know that a certain
Protestant whose influence is considerable said: ‘The
bringing of the Sisters to Elizabeth City to take over
the hospital is one of the best things for the city
and district that ever happened.’ There can be no
doubt as to the good will of the better class toward
the Sisters.
“I have lived in North Carolina for some years
now, and I must say that the respect shown me by
the people would have been thought exemplary had
these people been Catholics. As it is, I think their
behaviour short of marvelous ill the face of the
reputation their state has had for bigotry. I feel
satisfied that the same kind spirit will ever he mani
fested to the Sisters.”
We cannot believe that any of our contemporaries
wish to do the South an injustice by their stories
or comment. Nor is it possible for us to believe that
editors fooled by stories such as that about Elizabeth
City, where a gracious act was distorted into evi
dence of bigotry, are familiar with conditions down
here. We are aware that ■from particular premises
a general conclusion should not be drawn; that is
why we do not judge Massachuetts by the murder of
a priest there recently, or New York by its Jay For
rests, or Michigan by the campaign against paro
chial schools. If Christian charity does not guide us
from such errors, the rules of logic should.
It is difficult for us to understand the riots tak
ing place in some other parts of the country. If mem
ber’s of an organization are breaking the laws, they
should be arrested and dealt with by the law; if they
are not they should be allowed to hold meetings in
peace. When a non-Catholic mayor wired a Catholic
governor what to do in reference to a scheduled pa
rade by an anti-Caiholic organization recently, the
Catholic governor wired: “Let them parade.” This
particular organization has been holding meetings
and putting on parades in Georgia without liinderance
for eight years and the results have not been very
encouraging to it. Perhaps it - will fare better where
it fares worse.
Ad Multos Annos.
The Bulletin hastens to add its congratulations to
the others Abbot-elect Vincent Taylor, O.S.B., has re
ceived upon his election as Abbot of Belmont, and
it felicitates also the Benedictine order on the wise
choice it has made.
Georgia has more than a kindly feeling for the
Abbey of Belmont and its Abbot; it has a kindred
feeling. Numerous sons of the Diocese of Savannah,
cleric and lay, have been educated at Belmont. Bene
dictine priests from Belmont have educated thousands
of Georgia men in the Episcopal City of Savannah.
The Abbey at Belmont is bound to the Diocese of
Charleston, St. Augustine and others by ties equally
strong. Many members of the diocesan clergy in
South Carolina were prepared for ordination at the
Abbey. St. Leo’s Abbey, Florida, is a development
of Belmont and presided over by ‘a former Belmont
Benedictine, Rt. Rev. Abbot Charles Mohr, O.S B.
Other parts of the South, notably Alabama and Ten
nessee, are no less closely connected with Belmont
Abbey.
And so not only North Carolina but the entire
Southeast at least rejoices in the elevation of Father
Vincent. It prays that he may know the years of his
distinguished and saintly predecessor and many more,
and that God will grant that his realizations will ex
ceed his hopes. Ad Multos Annos!
/ Proper Criteria.
For twenty-two years Father Vincent Taylor, O.S.B.,
labored as pastor at Greensboro, N. C. August 20
he was elected Abbot of Belmont by his brother
Benedictines. The following day the Greensboro Daily
News published in its editorial columns a tribute to
“The Abbot of Belmont” which is interesting for at
least two reasons. •
First, it reveals the high regard and affection the
people of Greensboro, irrespective of creed, have for
their “Father Vincent” and the large place he won in
their hearts. Secondly, as the Georgia pastor who
sent us in the clipping remarked in his letter, “it is
a splendid expression of the sentiment entertained
for us by the best of our separated brethren.”
It is by the lives of menUike Father Vincent, which,
as the Greenboro Daily News says, “the dullest can
understand and the cleverest cannot argue away.”
that the Catholic Church should be judged. And it
is by the expression of such outstanding, represen
tative Southern papers as the Greensboro Daily News
that the attitude of the representative and substan
tial people of the South toward Catholics and their
Church, should be gauged.
“The announcement that Rev. Vincent Taylor of
Greensboro has been chosen Abbot of Belmont is
news that is received in this town with mixed emo
tions,” says the Daily News editorial. “It is a tremen
dous distinction, and in view of that fact friends of
the man so honored must rejoice; but it necessitates
the removal from the community of one of its mem
bers whose life and labors have won for him the
affectionate esteem of a great throng, far outnum
bering the members of hs own flock, and this pros
pective loss is the rerverse of cause for rejoicing.
“Greensboro is as vigorously Protestant a communi
ty as even vigorously Protestant North Carolina can
show. It is therefore brilliantly illustrative of his
quality to note that the pastor of St. Benedict’s Catho
lic church is ‘Father Vincent’ to half the town. Thou
sands who are not of his faith have nevertheless ac
quired profound respect for it by reason of the in
fluence of the man. At this moment the Catholic
church is being made the object of attacks of al
most unprecedented virulence, which have carried
away many of the thoughtless and uninformed. But
there is to such attacks an answer, and only one ans
wer, that \he dullest can understand and that the
cleverest cannot argue away; that answer is the life
of a Christian gentleman lived by a communicant of
the Roman Catholic church. For many years the
Rev. Vincent Taylor has lived among the people of
this city and during that time his life has been an
open book in whi-h the enemies of his faith can find
no page, or line, or word to use against it.
“On the other hand, his genial and charming per
sonality, his unaffected pleasure in the companionship
of his kind, and his unfailing, simple kindliness, have
won for him an affection that sweeps away all bar
riers of creed and washes out the taint of prejudice.
St. Benedict’s church suffers heavily by his removal;
but Protestant Greensboro does not escape loss, for
no town has enough of such spirits to be able to part
with one without regret. That, however, is the selfish
view. It is more generous, and equally true, to say
that the new abbot of Belmont enters into that posi
tion "of dignity and importance attended by the warm
good wishes of a host of the citizens of the city
wherein he proved himself worthy of the honor that
has been conferred upon him.”
The attitude of Col. Patrick Henry Callahan of Ken
tucky toward orders founded on religious prejudice
and his advice to outstanding public men on the
way they should be handled has drawn the fire cf
some of our contemporaries. But Kentucky, thanks
to the ideas and / efforts of Colonel Callahan and
Benedict Elder, is freer from organized prejudice than
perhaps any other state in the Union, while some of
the territory from which criticism of the Colonel’s
ideas emanates is seething with religious hatred.
Dixie Musings
One can tire of nearly anything.
A man who amasses a fortune and
then retires to enjoy it finds pleas
ure in travel, but travel soon palls
on him. Leisure, sweet at first, be
comes monotonous. The other pleas
ures he -anticipated so keenly lose
their charm.
This is true in a lesser degree of
things that are not continuous. A
trip to a distant city is a real joy
the first time, a pleasure the sec
ond time, a break in the monotony
a few times thereafter. • and then
much worse than the monotony il
succeeds.
So one can tire of nearly any
thing. The qualification is neces-v
sary because we have not known of
anyone who makes a retreat prop
erly year after year and tires ol
it. The first retreat is a pleasure, the
second much more so, becaust it
build up on the first, and each suc
ceeding one brings more spiritual
joy and comfort than the one before
it.
The fourth annual retreat for lay
men closed in Augusta Sunday. Far
from tiring of retreats, those who
have made all of them are now the
most zealous advocates of the retreat
movement, with the others increas
ingly ardent as the number of re
treats they have made grows.
One of the men who this year
made his first retreat, remarked in
private conversation: “I once said
that the happiest day of my *ife
was the day I made my first'com
munion. When I was married I
placed that day with the first, as a
day of happiness. Now I feel that
these days of my fijst retreat be
long With them.” Those who have
made several retreats have many
more days to rank with their days
of perfect happiness.
The retreatants had the pleasure
of having for a retreatmaster this
year, Rev. Robert T. Bryant, S. J.,
a native of Kentucky, a former
resident of Selma, Ala., and now oc
cupying a large place In the hearts
of every retreatant. The spiritual
reaction' following Father Bryant’s
eloquent, scholarly and deeply
spiritual discourses baffle descrip
tion. “He has pointed out for us
the path the Masvtr trod,” said W.
M. Nixon of Augusta, who was mak
ing his first retreat. “He has in
stilled into our souls the peace that
Jesus brought to those of good will
when He was going about doing good
among the hills of Judea and Galli-
lee.
Three retreatants of other years
were not there this time. They have
answered the last call. They were,
James J. Joy, James T. May and A.
.1. Bindewald, all of Augusta. When
the last summons came, what days
could have given them more satis
faction to recall than those they had
spent in retreat, alone with their
God! These departed Georgians are
constantly in the prayers of their
fellow-retreatants. especially during
retreat time. Each retreatant says
three Hail Marys each day for his
fellow-retreatants. The bond uniting
retreatants is more than a frater
nal one.
Another retreatant missing this
year, iiut who will be present next
vear, if it be” God’s will, was Mat
thew S. Rice. Mr. Rice was one of
the founders of the retreat move
ment in Georgia. Painful illness
which caused his removal to the
hospital, prevented his attendance.
There were thirty retreatants.
But others besides them are re
sponsible for its success. If the Rt.
Rev. Bishop tf Savannah, his vicar-
general and his priests had not
taken the interest in the movement
they did. and if the Jesuit Fath
ers— Father Provincial, Father
Macready, Father Bryant and the
others, had not assisted in the man
ner in which they did. the retreat
could not have been held.
There are others to whom the re
treatants are indeed indebted. There
is Brother Locher, S. J.. who pre
pared their quarters; Mrs. J. P. Mul-
herin and her assistants, who se
cured necessary supplies, the young
men, Edward Doris Cecil Sehler,
Julian O’Connor, William Donnelly
and Charles Bohler. Jr., who waited
on the tables. Then there are Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Bohler, who fed
the retreatants. Mr. Bohler is a man
of varied interests, a man whose
time is very valuable. Each year for
the past three years, he has as
sumed the responsibility of catering
to the retreatants. Every morning
before the sun had decided to rise
Mr. and Mrs. Bohler were at their
self-sacrificing task. Every night
when the retreatants were preparing
to retire they were still at it. Work
of this kind is only a charitable
hobby with Mr. and Mrs. Bohler. If
there are better fed retreatants in
America, we would appreciate being
advised about the others.
'The next retreat for men will
start the Thursday evening follow
ing July 15, 1925. An application of
a man who did not make the retreat
this year, has already been re
ceived. This puts all others on no
tice. All have plenty of time in
which to think it #ver.—R. R.
Catholic Comment
THE FRUITS OF CHARITY.
(From The Monitor, San Francisco.)
Soft words soften the. soul. Angry
words add fuel to wrath, and make
it blaze more fiercely. Cold words
freeze people, and hot words scorch
them. Bitter words make them bit
ter, aiid wrathful words make them
wrathful. There is such a tremend
ous rush of words in our days that
it is especially desirable for each
one of us to see to it that kind
words have their chance among
others. There are vain words and
idle words, hasty words and spite
ful words, silly words and warlike
words. Don’t forget the kind words.
They produce their own image in
men’s souls and a beautiful image
it is to be sure. They soothe and
quiet and comfort the hearer. Why
not, let them have a larger share
in all our lives?
CUI BONO?
(From The Transcript, Hartford.)
The religious conflict which
sprung up in the Democratic Na
tional Convention was short-lived.
It yielded no martyr, unless indeed
Mr. McAdoo can be called a martyr.
The net gain was' very slight, and
that seems to have gone entirely
to the coffers of the Klan. The plat
form which seems to have precipitat
ed the warfare is taken more seri
ously by its drafters than by any
one else. The great body of Ameri
can voters have read neither the
platform of the Democratic Party
nor the platform of the Republican
Party. They know from long ex
perience that neither party is irre
vocably beholden to its platform.
Why a pony religious war should
have been started from anything
so ephemeral and so negligible as
a party platform puzzles not alone
the will but the brain as well. It
must have bepn that the convention
was well stocked with factionists
spoiling for a fight. And that is the
exact truth. No quarreling, no
Klan, no profits accruing to the
kleagles and the dragons. Pity that
any sane Catholic citizen should
have so far forgotten himself and
his allegiance to the God of Wisdom
as to be betrayed into taking a hand
in a brawl whose only result was to
bring grist to the mills of bigotry.
PATRIOTIC NOTRE DAME
(From the Catholic Citizen,
Milwaukee^)
Klansmen and their sympathizer*
were severely rebuked by L.‘ Whit
ney Watkins, chairman of the Mich
igan state board of agriculture, in
a statement relative to the petitions
filed by the Ku Kluxers requesting
the cancellation of the June Michi
gan Aggie baseball game with Notre
Dame University. The request was
based on the falsehood that some
Notre Dame students recently dese
crated the flag at South Bend.
“There is no more loyal American
institution in this section today
than the University of Notre Dame,
and the unkind and uncalled for in
sult offered it and its baseball team
was nothing short of dastardly,” said
Mr. Watkins.
RECIPROCITY.
(From the Northwest Progress,
Seattle.)
There are Catholics who are fight
ing A1 Smith, there are Protestants
who are his ardent supporters, and
vice versa, and that is as it should
be. Yet for all that, it has been
predicled that-should Smith or any
other Catholic be nominated, the tide
of prejudice will sweep the nation
into a religious war and that blood
will be shed before election days
rolls round. Such a thing is ridicul
ous and, if it were true, would be a
sorry reflection upon the citizens
of. this Urtited States. Catholics
since the days of Washington, have
been voting for Flpiscopalians.
Methodists, Presbyterians and o'hers
for President and there has been no
bloodshed.
May we not expect the same toler
ance of our Protestant friends, when
the day comes that a Catholic does
carry the standard of one of the
great parties?
ANOTHER INDEX.
(From the Catholic News, New York)
Questionable magazines arc to be
barred in the state of Massachusetts
from now on, as the result of the
organization of the Massachusetts
Committee. Its object is to see that
no magazine carrying matter border
ing on the obscene or indecent is
sold in Boston.
The committee represents a broad-
■ning out of the same interests that
drove obscene books from the state,
and comprises among its members
the managers of the leading distri
bution agencies of the state. It also
represents the Church, the college,
the medical profession. New Eng
land Watch and Ward Society, and
other influences which strive for
clean literature.