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I Member of the National
Catholic Welfare Con
ference News Service.
Tjht iQnUttm
Official Organ of the Catholic Laymens Association^racigia
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timore and New Orleans
TEN CENTS A COPY.
VOL. VII. NO. 1.
AUGUQSTA, GA., JANUARY 9, 1926.
ISSUED semi-monthly
*2.00 A YEAR
ARTICLE BY MISSIONARY
GOMES AFTER HIS DEATH
Rev. W. J. Cohill, American
Priest in China, Dies After
Mailing Story to N. C. W. C.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Washington — The Rev. W. .1.
Cohill, young Catholic missionary
in China whose sudden death after
a short illness was recently report
ed, frequently acted as correspon
dent for the News Service and,
shortly before he died, had nailed
a news story from Shanghai, which
arrived here after his death. In
this story it is related how Father
Cohill, prevented from returning to
his mission station at Kaifeng, was
taking advantage of the opportuni
ties for service at Shanghai by min
istering to the religious needs of
Catholic seamen on an American
warship. A letter accompanying the
story tells of his other activities
and promised further news stories—
a promise which the writer will not
now keep. The letter, written has
tily with a lead pencil, is mute testi
mony of the conditions of life under
which Father Cohill spent his last
days. It reads:
“Help up here (Pengpu, Anhwei)
owing to civil war between here
and Kaifeng. Will send you a story-
next week of my work here as a
volunteer military chaplain. Over
600 wounded Chinese soldiers—bap
tized twelve, nine of them died. Ain
' cooperating with doctors and medic
al students from the Jesuit Aurora
University, Shanghai.”
The story' of Father Cohill’s visits
to the U. S. S. Huron at Shanghai
reads as follows:
“The Church Pennant, the only
flag which the United States Navy-
permits to me flown fr'onvthe same
mast above the Stars and Stripes,
was hoisted one Sunday morning
recently on hoard the U. S. S. Huron,
the flagship of Admiral Williams,
of the Asiatic Squadron, in Shang
hai harbor, when the Ilev. Father
William J. Cohill, an American
Catholic missionary stationed at
Kaifeng in the Province of Honan,
China, at the invitaiton of the
Huron’s Protestant chaplain, Lieu
tenant Commander Thomas L. Kirk
patrick, celebrated mass for 270
Catholic members of the ship’s crew
of 900 men and officers.
“When I-'ather Cohill, who came
over 600 miles to Shanghai for den
tal treatment, was prevented from
returning immediately to his mis
sion by the Civil War along the
Shanghai-Nanking-Peking Railroad,
he came aboard the “Huron” and of
fered his services to the Protestant
chaplain Kirkpatrick, and a record
breaking group of Catholics not only
assembled on the forecastle for
Father Cohill’s Mass, hut also to re
ceive Holy Communion.
“On tlie day following Father Co-
hill’s first Sunday Mass on board the
“Huron ” Chaplain Kirkpatrick
whote the missionary priest as lol-
lows:
“‘On behalf of the officers and
men of the ship, and especially on
behalf of those who are members
of the Roman Catholic Church, I
wish to thank vou for your great
kindness in coming out to hear con
fessions, and to conduct services
yesterday. May I add to this a word
of ..appreciation on my own behalf.
As the chaplain of this floating par
ish I great!v appreciate this evidence
of your interest in the men of our
Navy and in the Kingdom of Christ.
‘“Your offer to come out again
(Continued on page 9.)
Motion Pictures Improving
N.C.W.C. Director Declares
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
New York—The motion picture
industry now openly recognizes
its moral responsibility, and
this is its greatest step forward
to date, Charles A. McMahon,
Director of the N. C. W. C. Mo
tion Picture Bureau, declared in
a radio address here Wednesday
Mr. McMahon spoke on “Motion
Pictures and the New Year” and
his address, delivered through
Station WJZ, was the first of a
series on motion pictures to be
given under the auspices of the
motion Picture Producers and
Distributors of America.
The industry has now become
fully stabilized, intelligcntl-' di
rected and capably captained,
and it has developed artistically
and technically, said Mr. Mc
Mahon. but “the action of its
responsibility heads in recogniz
ing and solemnly proclaiming
their moral responsibility to
ward the public” is its outstand
ing achievement.
TO
OF
Federal Officials’ Pledge to
End Persecution Proves to
Be Only An Evasion,
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Mexico City.—Documents which
have just been made public here in
dicate that the announcement made
lats month by the Ministry of the
Interior to the effect that the federal
government would compel respect for
constitutional religious rights in the
State of Tabasco, was without foun
dation in fact. Telegrams and let
ters exchanged between federal offi
cials, including President Calles, and
Catholics in Tabasco, where a state
law forbids Catholic priests to exer
cise their ii»inistry unless they mar
ry, fail to bear out the statement
that the Ministry of the Interior,
with the approval of the President
had issued -orders that freedom of
worship clust be respected in Tabas
co in accordance with the provisions
of the National Constitution.
There is no record in the messages
made public of any communica
tion whatsoyer between the Presi
dent or other federal officers and the
officials of Tabasco. The announce
ment of the Ministry of the Interior
is thus revealed as a misrepresenta
tion of what had actually happened
What the federal authorities did
—through an under-secretary and
not by direct Presidential or Minis
terial action—was to advise Catho
lics in Tabasco that if their constitu
tional right were encroached upon
they should seek redress through
the Federal Courts. The Catholics
of Tabasco, replying to the message
from tlie under-secretory of the Min
istry of the Interior, declared that
they were cognizant of this theoret
ical method of redress n.nd would
make use of it “when useful.” Un
der existing conditions there is lit
tle likelihood that this procedure
will he “useful”, as the judiciary in
Tabasco is in the hands of the local
authorities and no hope for protec
tion of constitutional religious rights
can he looked for from that source.
Chicago Congress Han Gigantic
By WILLIAM A. O’MALLEY.
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Chicago.—The "city of Chicago will
be one gigantic sanctuary between
June 20 and 24 when the twenty-
eighth International Eucharistic
Congress will be held here—the first
of these Congres to he convened in
the United States.
More than 1.000,000 perons from
all over tlie civlized world together
with the Catholics within the por
tals of the greatest metropolis in
the West, will honor the Host of
Hosts by approaching the Sacrament
of Penance, and receiving the Sac
rament of the Holy Eucharist.
More Ilian 3000 priests drafted
from the Middle West will arrive in
Chicago ten days before the opening
of the Congress to hear the confes
sions of residents of the city and
the visitors as they arrive.
Extensive preparations are being
made by the twenty-five committees
assigned to take rare of detailed
tasks so that the Congress to be
held in , Chicago will go down in
history as the greatest and most
successful gathering of its kind
ever held.
His Eminence, George Cardinal
Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago,
sponsor of the twenty-eighth Inter
national Eucharistic Congress, is
taking personal interest in tlie gi
gantic preparations that are being
made, and keeps in immediate
touch with the activities of the vari
ous committees.
Press cables from Rome have as
sured the coming of ten cardinals
from Rome. If Cardinal Gasparri,
Secretary or State is detained in
Rome because of important business
in the Vatican, Cardinal Merry del
Val will he the representative of His
Holiness.
Chicago is preparing to entertain
more people and more elaborately
than on any four days during the
World’s Fair in 1893 which thus far
holds the record for visitors to the
city.
Education Without Religion May C
Ruin Nation Yale Professor Says
Dr. Weigle Absolves Cath
olics From Responsibility
.For Condition of Schools
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Detroit—“It has not been atheists
or infidels who have taken religion
out of the public schools of Ameri
ca; it has been done in the name
of religion,” Luther Allan Weigle,
Phi)., D.D., Litt-D., Professor of Re
ligious Education at Yale University,
declared in an address delivered here
recently before the Federal Council
of Churches.
Strongly decrying the “growing di-
virce between education and reli
gion” as pointing toward “utimate
ruin,” Dr. Weigle added it is too
often assumed that the blame for
this situation rests upop the Jews
and Catholics. Tlie Jews, he declar
ed, have had practically nothing to
do with it, and “the secularization of
public education had been in large
part accomplished before the Catho
lic Church in this country was strong
nough to raise its protest.” He con
tinued :
“The schools of Connecticut, for
example, were stripped of religious
elements as a result of the strife be
tween the established Congregational
Church and the dissenting Metho
dists, Episcopalians and Baptists,
who finally succeeded in disestab
lishing in 1818. The secularization
of the public schools of Massachu
setts was one of the consequences
of the strife between Trinitarians
and Unitarians in that state.
“Protestant churches must realize
that they are quite as much to blame
for the present situation as the
Catholic Church. The fact is that
adherents of all faiths have been far
more concerned to see to it that the
public schools should not contain
any clement inconsistent with any
of their particular beliefs and prac
tices, than they have been concern
ed to conserve in these schools the
greatest fundamental principles of
religions and morals upon which
they all agree.
“The practical exclusion of re
ligion from the public schools ot
this country is fraught with danger.
This situation will imperil, in time,
the future of religion among our
people and, with religion, the future
of the nation itself. Our children
cannot help hut note the omission
and mark the discrepancy between
the elaborate provision which we
make, through the public schools,
for their education in every thing
else, and the poor provision which
we make, through the Sunday
schools, for their education in re
ligion. Even though neither we nor
they may be fully conscious of the
fact, impressions are being made
which will operate inevitably to dis
credit religion in the minds of chil
dren, as being relatively unimpor
tant to the real business" of life, or
intellectually negligible, or a mere
matter of personal taste of prefer
ence.”
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES
MARK HOLY YEAR CLOSE
Million Pilgrims From All
Parts of World Came to
Rome Durikg Jubilee Year
Rome.—Amid magnificent pomp
and ceremony, in which Pope Pius
himself chanted the “Tc Deuni,”
echoed by 30,000 voices, while hun
dreds of church hells, including the
chimes of St. Peter, sounded tidings
to the outside world, the Toly door
through which more than 1.000,000
pilgrims passed during the year, was
solemnly closed December 24.
Pius XI himself mixed (he mortar
to seal the door for twenty-five
years, the first stone of which con
tains the seal of the present Pope.
The door is in St. Peter’s.
An hour before the Papal proces
sion began an immense crowd form
ed in the Basilica of St Peter's,
while a privileged few wgre given
seats and standing room in an en
closed portico. Ten noble guards
formed the front of the throne,
erected at the left of the Holy Door,
and the Pope’s trumpeters marched
from the Vatican, heralding the
coining of the Pontiff.
Then followed a colorful proces
sion, in the middle of which, slow
ly advancing' step by step, wa the
Papal chair with an Oriental can
opy. There were bishops in purple,
(Continued on Page 11)
Marriages Decrease While
Divorce Figures Grow
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Washington.—Marriages in the
United States decreased by a
greater percentage than divorces
increased in 1924, as compared
with 1923, according to figures
made public by the Department
of Commerce. The figures are:
Marriages. 1,223,924 in 1923, and
1,178,206 in 1924, or a decrease
of 3.7 per cent.; divorces, 165,-
096 in 1923 and 170,867 in 1924,
or an increase of 3.5 per cent.
Texas led in the number of
divorces granted in 1924, with .
15,375, as compared with 71,896
marriages. There were no di
vorces in South Carolina, where
the State law does not permit it.
The District of Columbia was
South Carolina’s nearest rival,
with 126 divorces.
lATHDLIG PUPILS
HIGHER EDUCATION
They Outnumber Graduates
of Other Schools Continuing
Studies Survey Reveals
T
E
Institutions of Higher Learn
ing Become Corporate Col
leges of St. Louis University
(By N. C. W. C- News Service)
St. Louis—All of the Catholic col
leges in the Archdiocese of St.
Louis, 1 ’•nine in all, have been merged
into an organization to be known
as “The Corporate Colleges of St.
Louis University.” Announcement
to this effect lias been made by the
Rev. Charles H. Cloud, S. J., Presi
dent of the University, who accom
panied the announcement with an
explanation of what the merger
means. The institutions included
in the merger are: Fontlionne Col
lege, College of the Sacred Heart,
Noire Dame Junior College, St
Louis University College of Arts
and Sciences, Chaininade College,
Mary hurst Normal School, St. Mary’s
Junior College. St. Mary’s Seminary,
and Webster College.
The corporate colleges will he gov
erned by an Administrative Board
composed of two representatives of
each of the colleges together with
President Cloud and Archbishop Gle-
nnon. Commenting on the merger
President Cloud said:
“The type of organization which
we are contemplating is essentially
that of the states of the Union.
These are conceived as sovereign
powers and delegate such authority
as is necessary for the policies of
Hie Union to the federal authorities.
Similarly, the individual corporate
colleges retain their sovereign auto
nomy, excepting in so far as they
by mutual agreement, willingly dele
gate to the University such au
thority as is necessary in the inter
ests of the merger. We are. there
fore, not using the term ‘merger’
in a strictly legal sense, implying
thereby a demise of any of the in
stitutions which are parties of the
agreement. There is implied rather a
coordination of individual effort in
the prosecution of greater achieve
ments.”
(By N. C. W. C. News Service.)
Washington—More than half of
the graduates of Catholic high
schools continue their education in
colleges and other institutions, it is
revealed in a survey just made by
the Bureau of Education of the Na
tional Catholic Welfare Conference.
The percentage of Catholic high
school graduates thus continuing
their studies is 11.1 higher than that
in the public schools, a comparison
shows.
According to the Catholic Bureau’s
figures, 55.5 per cent of the grad
uates take up additional schooling.
Figures compiled by the United
States Bureau of Education show
that 44.4 per cent of the public high
school graduates continue their ed
ucation.
In both the classification for girls
and that for hoys, the Catholic
schools make a substantially better
showing than do the public schools.
Fifty-seven per cent of the Catholic
boy graduates continue, while the
public school figures is 46 per cent.
In the case of the*girls, the Catholic
schools show 54 per cent while the
public schools have 42.9.
Of the Catholic boys, the N. C.
VV. C. Bureau finds that 47 per cent
enter college and 10 per cent enter
other institutions, such as business,
normal or professional schools. 'Tlie
public school boy graduates divide
into 37 per cent to the colleges and
9 per cent to other institutions, thus
leaving the Catholic schools ahead
in both divisions.
Of the 54 per cent of the Catholic
girl gradnates continuing their
schooling, 24 per cent go to college,
while the public high schools send
25.9 per cent. 'Ibis is the one item
in which the public schools exceed
the Catholic. To other institutions
the Catholic high schools send 30
per cent of their girl graduates while
the public schools send only 17 per
cent.
As for the total number of-grad
uates'—both boys and girls—who en
ter college, the Catholic schools lead
by 4.5 per cent, their figure stand
ing at 35 5 per cent while the pub
lic schools have 31 per cent. Twenty
per cent of all graduates of Catholic
high schools go to Institutions of
learning other than colleges, against
13 per cent of all public high school
graduates.
The survey conducted by the N.
C. W. C. Bureau is in every sense
representative. Tlie number of
schools entering the study was 1,-
028, with upward of 110,000 total en
rollment. One hundred, and two dio
ceses in every section of the coun
try were included. The public school
survey covered 11,880 schools with
enrollment of more than 400,000.
In the course of the Catholic sur
vey some surprisingly high percent
ages of boy high school graduates
going to college were discovered in
individual cases. For-instance, nine
high schools in the New York arch
diocese graduated an aggergate of
375 boy's in the year studied, and
225 of them entered college. Six
Boston archdiocese high school grad
uated 347 boys and 203 of them en
tered college. Other instances were:
Milwaukee archdiocese, three schools
graduated 103 hoys and 84 wg£t
to college; Buffalo diocese,
seven schools graduated 157 boys
(Continued on page 9.)
U.S. Gives $1,
to Louvain
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
New York.—The lnilUon-doliar
gift of Americans for the rebuilding
of tlie historic library of the Cath
olic Louvain university in Belgium
is entirely subscribed, it was an
nounced here this week. Herbert
Hoover, secretary of commerce of
tlie United States, and Nicholas
Murray Butler, president of Colum
bia university, who headed the ef
fort to obtain the huge sum need
ed, made the announcement jointly.
The committee headed by Dr.
Butler raised half a million dollars
by small donations, at which point
it had exhausted its list of donors.
The Belgians then appeal to Mr.
Hoover, who look up the task. A
week ago building had been halted,
with only $500,000 in sight. This
week authority was cabled to re
sume work with the full million
guaranteed.
The inillion-dollar fund, says the
joint announcement of Mr Hoover
and Dr. Butler, represents “gifts of
a few pennies each from more than
half a million American school chil
dren and school teachers; gifts of
one dollar or more from students
of practically every college, univer
sity, academy and preparatory school
in the country; from the police
forces of several cities, including
in excess of $8,000 from New York’s
‘finest’; from fire departments, also
including several thousand dollars
from New York city; from profes
sorial and alumni associations, li
brary staffs, women’s clubs and
a vast number of individuals.” Tlie
announcement adds: “The Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace
made a large contribution at the
inception of the work to cover cost
of collection, and the staff did the
clerical work free of cost.”
Mr. Hoover obtained personal
contributions of $292,000 and the
commission for relief in Belgium
Educational Foundation voted $382,-
500, clinching the success of the
drive.