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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JANUARY 9, 1926.
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen's Association
of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
Published Semi-Monthly by Lhc Publicity Department with
the Approbation of the Rt. Rev# Bishops of Belmont, Char
leston, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and Natchez.
1109 Lamar Building. Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
S. T. Mattingly, Walton Bldg. Atlanta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1924-25.
p. H. RICE, K. C. S. C.. Augusta •..President
COL. P. H. CALLAHAN. K.S.G., Louisville, Ky., and ADMI
RAL WM. S. BENSON, K.G.S.G., Washington. D. C.
Honorary V ice-Prcsidents
L .L IIAVERTY, Atlanta? First Vice-President
.1. B. McCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer
Ml CHARD REID, Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILE C. FERRY, Augusta. .Asst, Publicity Director
VOL. VII. JANUARY 9, 1926 NO. 1
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service and of the Catholic
Press Association of the United States and Canada.
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 Sec
tion 110.1, Oct of October 3, 1917, authorized Sept 1, 1921.
An Urgent Need
“There is something more dangerous lo Catholic
welfare that fear or hatred, and that is ignorance,”
writes Rev. Jeremiah C. Harrington of the faculty of
St. Paul Seminary, and'the Catholic Citizen of Mil
waukee publishes a suggestion of a contemporary that
“the urgent thing to do is to reach the non-Calliolics
of the United States through the daily newspapers
of the country and familiarize them with Catholic
doctrines and beliefs.” A National Catholic Truth
Society is proposed, endorsed by the highest church
men in the country. “Put this plan into effect and
we will have less bigotry, fewer fallen away Catholics
aitfl more-non-Catholics joining the Church.”
There is a real need for such activity in every
slate in the Union and as great a need for a national
body directing its energies along these lines. “Reach
ing the non-Catholics through the daily newspapers
of tlie country” even through paid advertisements is
not' always successful, as the experience of zealous
Catholics in various parts of the country has re
vealed, but the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia and other organizations have demonstrated
that there is a way of familiarizing non-Catholics
with doctrines and beliefs without arousing antagon
ism.
The source of much prejudice against Catholics
is matter appearing in secular magazines ami news
papers. Catholics have a right lo demand that they
he not misrepresented there, and a National Catholic
Truth Society could do hot ii llie Catholic Church and
the nation invaluable service by correcting prcjudice-
lirceding misstatements appearing in the public press.
Answering such matters in the Catholic press, unless,
as in the case in Georgia, the Catholic paper contain
ing the answer is circulated among non-Catholics who
have probably seen the original article, is not very
effective. Zealous Catholics sometimes undertake to
answer, and often do it very well, hut where there
is no sustained and authoritative offort a stray letter
has little effect. Again, individuals can do little or
nothing with anti-Catholie publications having a nat
ional circulation.
There is a real demand, therefore, for organized
and authorized effort to dry up the sources of pre
judice indicated, as well as others which readily occur
lo us. Care should he taken lest the attempt to cure
aggravate the disease, a very real danger if tlie tusk
of correcting misrepresentations is delegated to one
who cannot rid himself of the idea that such letters
or articles will fail of their purpose unless disdainful,
sarcastic, funny, or smart. Such a letter from a
Catholic to the average Catholic writer or editor
seldom puts Hie latter in an amiable or friendly
mood; those outside the fold are subject to the same
laws of psychology. Care also should he taken to
avoid confusing an unwarranted criticism of one’s
personal beliefs with an attack on the Catholic Church.
Tile qualities that have caused the Church to single
out over one 'hundred American priests and make
them cardinals, archbishops and bishops are present
in thousands of other priests and in numerous mem
bers of the laity. There are the qualities desirable
for work of this character. It is work for a man of
literary attainments, a scholar, a psychologist. It
is a work worthy of an American Chesterton.
It seems io us that, the National Council of Catho
lic Men should he able to undertake this work by
creating a new department. A priest or prelate with
the ability of a Bishop Kelly, Bishop Noll, Father
Burke, Father Gillis or Father l’arsons, or a layman of
the calibre of Admiral Benson or the scholarship of
Benedict Eider, Arihur Pruess or Michcal Williams
should be in direct charge. None of those named is
of course available or they would not he mentioned;
they arc referred to merely as types, for there are
many others equally capable. If the National Council
were to undertake this work, doing successfully in
& national way what the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia is trying lo do in this state, its future
would, we believe, be assured.
Opposition to Religious Schools
The Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, South
ern Jurisdiction, recently adopted a resolution con
cluding: “We are therefore justified in continuing
to assert and maintain our belief in the value of the
compulsory requirement of attendance of all children
upon the public schools.” Secular newspapers under
stood the resolution lo mean that the Scottish Rite
Masons had “declared war on private and parochial
schools,” and the Scottish Rite now says the resolution
was misinterpreted. A circular being widely distribut
ed in Georgia and elsewhere points out that in the
resolution ’’there was no mention made of Private,
Catholic, Communistic or any other schools,” hut
reiterates its demand for compulsory attendance of
all children in the public schools, a principle declared
un-Constilutional by the Supreme Court of the United
States.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to sec wherein
the Scottish Rite was misunderstood. If the urging
of the passage of a law which would make it criminal
for Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans and others now
sending their children to private and parochial schools
is not an effort lo make war on these schools, we
shudder to think of what war on them would mean.
The coupling of private institutions of learning,
in which the majority of the presidents of the United
State were educated, and parochial schools with athe
istic communist schools is significant. None but a
bitter partisan would mention them in the same con
nection.
The Scottish Rite, despite its resolution, says that
its hope is merely to make the public school so sup
erior to all others that it would appeal to all of the
children and their parents alike. The public schools
of wealthy cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Chicago are as excellent in secular
branches as we can at present hope to make them,
yet Catholics and many who are not Catholics prefer
religious and private schools for their children, schools
in which training in secular subjects is as thorough as
in the public schools and which in addition give the
religious education impossible in a public school
system as conducted in America, and without which,
as outstanding Americans from Washington to Cool-
idge have declared in every decade of our national
life, education is one-sided and deficient.
The Catholic schools of the country save the
public school system $112,000,000 annually in teachers’
salaries alone. This docs not include the cost of
schools and other expenses which tax-payers would
be called upon to pay if the children in these schools
were not educated by Catholics themselves. Private
schools save the tax payers additional millions. With
over 2,000,000 Catholic children suddenly forced into
the public schools, hundreds of millions of dollars
additional would be necessary each year to keep the
public school system up to its present standard,
which, with rising educational costs and growing op
position to increasing taxes, would require more than
rare genius on the pajt of educators and public of
ficials.
With the Christian-minded, thoughtful educators
of the country and religious leaders of all shades of
belief deploring the prevalence of crime, especially
among young people, and insisting that the only
remedy is religion in education, it is disheartening
lo see what Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia
University recently termed “the only serious, syste
matic and highly organized effort to give genuine re
ligious training to children of its faitli,” that of the
Catholic Church, so vindictively opposed. Dishearten
ing, not to us ns Catholics, for we have no fears for
the future of our Church, but as Americans, since we
entertain the opinion of Rev. Dr. Luther Allan Weiglc,
of Yale University, expressed a'few days ago before
the Federal Council of Churches in Detroit, that
education without religion “is fraught with danger.
This situation will imperil, in time, the future of re
ligion among our people and, with religion, the future
of our nation itself.”
We cannot help wondering how our friends and
neighbors who are Scottish Rite Masons—the rank
and file of the organization—regard its opposition to
religious schools and its attempt to deprive parents
of the rights over their children which tlie Supreme
Court of the United States has ruled is guaranteed
them by the Constitution. We believe that, as religi
ous and Jibcrly loving men, they are not in sympathy
with it.
Fireworks are as much a part of
the observance of Christmas in the
South as the Christmas tree and
the turkey—this information for
the benefit of our readers in other
parts of the country and of the
world. There is only one thing we
can sav in extenuation of the cus
tom—there are fewer fatalities these
days from accidents due to the
frightening of horses by the explo
sion of young or mature cannons.
L’Auto, the great Parisian sport
ing paper, remarks that Red Grange
threatens to become such a star
“as lo succeed the national, idol,
Bambino, as the greatest of Ameri
can footballers.” American at
tempts to discuss things European
which.we assume we understand are
often no less ridiculous than this.
The Providence Visitor tells a
story prompted by President Coo-
lidge’s reputation for economy. The
president, says the Rhode Island
Catholic paper, returned to the
White House one morning after
hearing a sermon. Mrs. Coolidge
asked if the sermon was good.
“Yes,” said the president. ‘‘What
was it about?” “Sin.” “What did
the preacher say about it?” “He
was against it.”
All hut one of 450 parents of
girls attending Boston University,
in answering a questionnaire sent
out by the Dean, declared their
emphatic opposition to their daugh
ters smoking. The other parent
seemed to he against smoking on
the part of either hoys or girls.
There is still hope for the country
and for the redemption of the
younger generation.
A contemporary remarks that the
unfavorable publicity given Knute
Rockne in connection with his ne
gotiations with Columbia Univer
sity came immediately after his re
ception into the Catholic Church,
and implies there is some connec
tion. This appears to us to be an
example of the “post hoc, ergo prop
ter hoc” fallacy our professors of
philosophy warned us to avoid.
tatkolic Comment
' There is a tendency in some
quarters to make it appear that
Mitchell trial was a “Catholic—anti-
Catholie” fight, since some of the
general staff officers General Mitch
ell criticized arc Catholics. More
of them were Protestants, so why is
it not as logical to see in it a
Protestant—anti-Protestant fight?
Francis Marion White, tax collec
tor of Dcttalb County, which in
cluded tlie present site of Atlanta,
from 1848-52, died Christmas week
in his 99th year. 'Shose not in
the best of health may take heart
when they learn that Mr. White
was an invalid for practically his
entire life, being confined to a roll
ing chair for a great part of the
time.
PROPER CATHOLIC CRITERIA.
(From the Catholic Herald, St.
Louis).
Probably in.Boston, as elsewhere,
there have been politicians who, as
Irish and Catholics, gave some bad
example, hut the unworthy Irish
Catholics never made up “about
one-lialf the population’’ either
there or anywhere On the contra
ry, a long list of truly cultured
Irish Catholics, men and women,
can be made from among what this
vulgar writer calls “immigrant mo
rons.”
ON THE OTHER HAND.
(From the Michigan Catholic,
Detroit.)
Some Methodist ministers quizzed
both the Mayor of Detroit and his
opponent on various civic issues.
Suppose a group of Catholic clergy
men would have done this- How
the welkin would ring with charges
of the Catholic Church meddling in
politics I
WORRYING THE VATICAN.
(From the Ave Maria, Notre Dame,
Indiana.)
Pius XI. himself would find it
hard to repress a smile, if he were
to hear a story related by Mr. Pelt
Ridge in his new book, *‘I Like to
Remember.” He happened to be in
Tabard street, London, S. E., at the
close of the game of street football
in which Catholic boys lost to
Protestant companions—whose cap
tain said triumphantly: “Chaps,
there’ll be many sore ’carts in the
Vatican tonight!”
THE CHURCH AND PROHIBITION.
From the Catholic Citizen, Milwau
kee.)
The Catholic church has no de
fined universal attitude on tlie sub
ject of prohibition, says Rev. Jos
eph Reiner, S. J., of Loyola univer
sity who spoke Sunday in St. Igna
tius church, Chicago, on tlie subject
of “Tlie Church and Prohibition.”
“At least sixteen bishops of the
church either advocated the passage
of the eighteenth amendment or en
couraged their people to observe the
law. Others thought the law was
not a wise one.
“Of one thing we are certain, it is
our duty lo obey the law while it r«
mains a law.”
Mrs. Charlotte A. Whitney, descended from May
flower stock, has been convicted in California on the
charge of preaching communism. Prof. Kirtley F.
Mather of Harvard recently declared that “science is
slowly but surely driving Christianity into the dis
card.” This should give our friends, who spend sleep
less nights worrying about the foreigners within our
boundaries, something to tidbit about.
Fort E. Land, state superintend
ent of schools for Georgia, re
turns from Maryland enthusiastic
about the public school system
there, rated as one of the best in
the land. The fact that Catholics
are influential in Maryland and
comprise a sizeable fraction of the
state’s population does not seem to
hamper the growth and excellence
of its public schools.
“Where are our Catholic bank di
rectors?” demands a head line in
tlie Catholic Observer of Pittsburgh,
quoting ltcv. Thomas F. Coakley,
D. 1)., of that city. A number of
them are in Georgia. There are
several in Augusta, where Catho
lics constitute less than five per
cent of the city’s population and
much less than that of its imme
diate trade territory. Savannah and
Atlanta have many more. Savannah
perhaps leading this section in that
respect. Charleston, Macon, Jack
sonville, Mobile—practically every
city in the South has its quota.
Many hank executives, from presi
dents down, are Catholics. There
are no doubt more Catholics in fi
nancial positions of great respon
sibility in the South than else
where in the United Stales hi pro
portion to their numbers. So we do
not waste many tears because these
states, like all hut three others in
the Union, have no Catholic repre
sentatives in the United States sen
ate.
BISHOP CARROLL AND SALOONS.
(From the Catholic Sentinel, Port
land, Oregon.) -
Senator Walsh of Montana in
speaking of the deatli of tlie late
Bishop Carroll of Helena recalled
that one of the first efforts of the
bishop on taking up his residence
in Helena was directed toward clos
ing the gll-night saloons which then
disgraced the Montana capital, and
had indeed been a part of tlie city’s
life since its mining camp days. The
proposal was regarded as revolu
tionary. says I lie senator, and was
generally looked upon as hopeless.
But in due time the bishop’s ef
forts borefruit as similar efforts
forts bore bruit as similar efforts
nities So great lias been tlie eiiange
of sentiment on these matters in a
few years that it is difficult to pic
ture the old evil conditions. In es
timating the pros and eons of pro
hibition it is well to keep in mind
what an infamous institution the
salodii often was.
Greek and Latin are coining back
in secular colleges, Dean H. V. Can
ter, of tlie University of Illinois
says. Last year (he demand for
teachers of classical subjects could
not he met in New York, Missouri,
Texas, Indiana, Iowa. Illinois and
Ohio, the Associated Press quotes
him as saying. In previous years
some Catholic parents refused to
send their children to Catholic col
leges because ihey insisted in teach
ing thesa “useless” subjects, hut
Catholic colleges refused to yield lo
the popular wlym. With the" secular
colleges again veering around to
the viewpoint of Catholic educators,
where will these Catffoiic parents
now send their children to school?
Typographical errors are not an
nnmixed blessing. Sometimes folks
who would never read a Catholic
paper go carefully through it to
find how many mistakes they can
A SAVING FOR TAXPAYERS.
(From the Union and Times, Buffalo)
Here are a few facts presented by
Francis Crowley in a recent lecture
over tlie Paulist Radio. There are in
the United States today, 7,000 pa
rochial schools in operation, 2000.-
000 pupils enrolled, 50.000 religious
teachers and 3,000 lay teachers.
Basing the per capita cost of ed
ucating a child in the public schools,
it would take $112,000,000 a year for
the ordinary expenditure which
does not include the cost of erecting
school buildngs. Mr. Crowley places
this last item at $500,000,000
If these 2,000,000 Catholic chil
dren were turned into the public
school tomorrow, it would mean an
additional burden to the taxpayer of
$612,000,000 from January 1. 1925, to
January 1, 1927; $500,000,000 for
school buildings and $112,000,000 for
the ordinary expenses. Of this
amount Catholics woudld pay $102,-
000,000 and non-Catholics, $510,-
000,000.
The Catholic school actually
saves the non-Catholic taxpayer
$100.000 00 a year or more. $100,-
000,000 is tlie sum . which the pro
ponents of the Sterling-Towner bill
believed sufficient to meet the needs
of the federalized system of educa
tion planned if the measure was
passed. Quite a sum to save, isn’t
it?
locate. Joseph Quinn, the editor of
the Propagation of the Faith Maga
zine, tells of another instance where
one served a useful purpose. A
Kansas man some years ago bought
a Florida lot for $250. Hearing of
the boom, lie advertised the lot in
a Florida paper, asking for $400.
The linotype operator, knowing the
value of lots in that neighborhood,
thought this was a mistake, and
added two ciphers, making it $40,-
000. Replies began to pour in. and
one prospective buyer went to Kan
sas and offered the dazed owner
$35,000. P. S—He got the lot.