Newspaper Page Text
JANUARY 9, 1926.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
7
A PAGE OF CATHOLIC INFORMATION
The Position of Catholics
An Association Letter to a Critic of a Georgia Editor Who
Defended Right of Catholics to Hold Public Office
“A Catholic must never be
president of the United States”
the Wesleyan Christian Advo
cate wrote recently, and The
Commerce, Ga., News, which
took a Christian and American
editorial stand against this dec
laration received letters from
subscribers agreeing with The
Advocate and misrepresenting
Catholics. The Catholic Lay-
men’s Association of Georgia
wrote the following self-explan
atory letter to one critic of the
position of the Commci-cc News:
Dear Sir
Your letter in reference to the
Wesleyan Christian Advocate's posi
tion that “a Catholic must never be
president of the United States,” ap
pearing in the October 27 issue of
the Commerce News, was read with
interest, and we trust you will not
object to us answering the questions
you propose.
We would start by saying that to
maintain that “a Catholic must nev
er be president of the United States”
is to violate the letter and spirit of
the Constitution which you as a loy
al American hold inviolate, for it is
plainly declares (in Article Six) that
‘‘no religious test shall ever be re
quired as a qualification to any of-
iice or public trust under the Unit
ed States.”
We arc not interested in the can
didacy of any Catholic for the
presidency or any office. But all
Americans have a Constitutional
right to seek public office and to
occupy the office if elected; to de
prive any class of that right be
cause of its religious convictions is
unconstitutional and un-American.
Y’ou ask: “Do you know that
Catholics swore their allegiance to
the Pope of Rome in preference to
• ny government?” Catholics do not
swear their allegiance to the Pope of
Rome in preference to any govern
ment. as reference to any penny
catechism will show. Catholics
“render to Caesar the things that
•re Caesar's and to God the things
that are God’s.” Their spiritual al
legiance they give to the church;
their temporal allegiance to their
country, and between the two there
is no conflict. The government is
supreme in the temporal sphere.
The inclosed pamphlet explains the
illation of Catholics and the Pope.
Again you ask: “Do you know
that they vowed they would carry
out their plans or obligations re
gardless of the consequences to
their opposers?” I was born and
reared in the Catholic church and
know it from chapel cellar to Ca
thedral dome, and although 1 am
the editor of the only Catholic
newspaper published in the South
east, this is news to me.
Again you say: “Did you know
that the Catholic church contends
that the. Apostle Peter established
the Church of Rome and was Pope
of it for more than twenty-five
years? That he was a successor to
Jesus Christ?” The Catholic
Church maintains that it was Jesus
Christ Himself who founded the
Church. It teaches that the Apostle
Peter was the Vicar of Christ, not
His successor. Christ is divine, and
has no successor. St. Peter was hu
man like the rest of us, and his sue
cessors in the Papacy are likewise
only human.
Again you ask: “Did you know
that Catholics held that the Church
was supreme over all temporal
powers?” On the contrary, Catho
lics hold that the state is supreme
in the temporal sphere and that the
Church’s authority and the author
ity of the Pope are in the spiritual
field, nor lias the Church ever
tauglit a different doctrine.
A Catholic, Charles Carroll, of
Carrollton, signed the Declaration
of Independence and the assistance
of the French and other Catholics
made the winning of that independ
ence possible. Since that time
Catholics have held numerous posi
tions of honor and trust. Two of
them were chief justices of the
United States Supreme Court, the
highest honor in the land except
the presidency. Catholics have been
United States Senators, governors,
ranking officers of the army and
navy. During the recent war a
Georgia Catholic, Admiral Wm. S.
Benson of Macon, directed the trans
portation of every American boy
carried to Europe on American
ships, and accomplished his task
without the loss of a single man.
Their membership in the Catholic
Church did not prevent these Cath
olics from rendering loyal and ef
fective services to their country.
If I were in your position and
thought that the Catholic Church
were the kind of institution you
apparently believe it to be, perhaps
1 would feel as you do about it. But
the leading figures of our national
history, from Washington, who con
tributed to the erection of a Catho
lic Church in Philadelphia and at
tended services there, to Wilson and
Coolidge have all had a kindly re
gard for it, because they knew the
Catholic Church as it really is, not
for what those who dislike it say it
is.
1 shall close by reference to your
statement that “ignorance is the
mother of devotion” is a Catholic
maxim. In the United States there
are over 2,000 000 children attending
Catholic grammar schools. Catho-
lies give the equivalent 0 f $112,000,-
000 to support these schools, saving
that sunj yearly for taxpayers who
would be obliged to pay it and a
great deal more if these 'Catholic
children were in the public schools
There are2.000 Catholic high schools
in the United States, 121 Catholic
colleges and 22 Catholic uuiversities,
including such institutions as Geor
getown Fordham, Catholic Universi
ty of America, Holy Cross, St. Louis,
Boston, Creighton, Loyola, Notre
Dame. etc. I believe you will admit
that this does not tend to substanti
ate the inference that the Catholic
Church encourages ignorance.
If there is any point in the fore
going you care to discuss we shall
be pleased to hear from you. We
write in the spirit of the Christian
charity that our Lord wishes to be
characteristic of those who follow
Him.
A Friend of Bishop Verot I Jhe Credulity of the Infidels
Msgr. Foley Interested in
History of Sisters of Mercy
St. Paul’s Church Messenger of
Baltimore in its December number,
reprinted the story of the flight of
the Sisters of Mercy from St. Au
gustine to Columbus during tlfe War
Between the States. The editor of
The Messenger, Rt. Rev. Msgr. M.
F. Foley, writes: “The above inter
esting story is taken from The Bul
letin of the Catholic Laymen’s As
sociation of Georgia, a newspaper
published at Augusta, Ga, by devot
ed Catholic laymen. During the
years of its existence The Bulletin
has done untold good. This re
cital has a wonderful charm for
the editor of The Messenger, who
knew Bishop Verot and who also
knew the “comforts” of the forests
and swamps of Florida forty years
ago.” As a young priest onsignor
Foley labored as a missionary in
South Carolina and eleswhere in the
South; he is now pastor of one of
Baltimore’s leading parishes.
The Situation in Mexico
From
the Valdosta,
Daily Times
Ga.,
Admiral Benson’s Efficiency
One afldrnoon in 1918 a shabbily-
dressed man presented himself at
the door of then Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker’s residence in
Washington, says the Catholic Citi
zen of Milwaukee.
“Ask no questions,” he said, “but
follow' me.”
Somewhat mystified, though fore
warned that strange happenings
would occur, the secretary trailed
the stranger. Both entered a di
lapidated Ford. For more than an
hour they- drove through the poorer
streets of the capital. Mr. Baker
was fearful that he was in evil
hands. However, the ear finally
drew up at a side entrance to the
Union station at Washington. The
war secretary was hustled through a
secret entrance to the train shed,
and then along the tracks until he
W'as finally boosted into an unliglit-
ed Pullman car. Here his rough
looking escort left him. Mr. Baker
sat down and waited for develop
ments.
Soon a passing Negro porter de
manded to know who Mr. Baker was
and even threatened to throw him
off the car. Mr. Baker told him to
inquire at the station and the porter
left, still suspicious. Later the car.
still dark, v. r as attached to a freight
train. About midnight it was shunt
ed into a freight yard near New
York. Another unkempt individual
presented himself to the secretary
and conducted the latter to the
waterside. Mr. Baker was told to
mount a rope ladder hanging over
the side of a vessel tied up at dock.
He found himself on the deck of
a battleship. An officer questioned
him and when he announced that
he was “secretary of war” the of
ficer laughed and exclaimed, “apple
sauce.” But the officer consulted
the vessel’s commander and soon
thereafter, Mr. Baker was hustled
below decks. For several days he
was a virtual prisoner, not-being al
lowed to conic on deck and deprived
of light at night. It was not until
the vessel (the cruiser Seattle) ar
rived at Brest that his idenitv was
revealed.
“And that is only one instance of
the thoroughness and efficiency of
Admiral Benson,” remarked " Mr.
Baker at a recent testimonial din-
ner tendered the veteran officer and
shipping board member on the oc
casion of the admiral’s 70th birth
day.
Mr. Baker’s war-time, adventures
were due to the government’s de
sire to have him arrive in Europe
before enemy agents knew that, he
had left Washington. The secret
trip abroad was engineered by Ad
miral Benson. The latter had pre
viously instructed the secretary of
war to obey certain orders, no mat
ter bow strange they might seem.
At the recent dinner, where the
story was made public for the first
time, Mr. Baker credited Admiral
Benson with developing the convoy
system that contributed so much to
the success of American troop move
ments in the war. The British at
first opposed the idea but Admiral
Benson, war-time navy chief, finally
won his point. Mr. Baker said it
was principally due to Admiral Ben
son that the army and navy work
ed in perfect harmony.
Mexico seems to have been doing
pretty well lately in most respects,
but some parts of the country have
adopted an unfortunate attitude to
ward religion. 'Hie peppery stale
of Tobasco goes to almost incredi
ble lengths in Catholic-baiting, and
the federal government stands
for it.
Gov. Tomas Jarrido. “a 100 per
cent Mexican,” i s head and front
of this movement. He has- closed
most of the churches in Tobasco,
and seized others and tinned them
over to an independent church of
his own choice. Recently lie fath
ered a law by which Catholic priests
are ordered to marry. The civil au
thority will not let them continue
their priestly duties if they re
main unmarried, and the religious
authority naturally will not let then*
continue if they marry.
There lias been much intolerance
in the world lately, in which the
United States itself has not been
entirely guiltless, We have our re
ligious .lingoes here, too, as we have
our political and racial jingoes. But
in no American state lias anything
been suggested so radical as the
lobasco persecution.
The American ideal is church and
state letting each other alone, on
the theory that earthly and heav
enly authority do not conflict.
Catholic College Graduates’
Debt to the Community
, (By Rfev. Dr. James Ryan)
the graduate of a Catholic col
lege owes a very special debt of ser
vice to the community. The reason
lor this statement is more or less
obvious. The Catholic college has
committed itself to the training not
only 0 f scholars hut of Christian
scholars. Over and above the sci
ence we teach, and vitalizing it all
as the sun rays do the world in
'u,.,. i WC i lve ’ „' arc ?*’ e lessons of
iharaeler the college inculcates. Oui
theory of education always has been
that the training of the mind no
matter how well done, is not the
exclusive task of a college. To
knowledge we add education of the
will, and consider our work incom
plete where heart and mind have not
been so attuned to the truth that the
graduates will not only love knowl
edge above all things, but will also
pursue justice a t any hazard We
strive to produce the complete man;
we strive to educate towards com
plete living.
• ( wc call upon our alumni to
justify the existence of our colleges
and the worth of the education
which they have been given by the
living up to standards which all
must approve. To he co.uerete—the
college graduate is a citizen and as
such is responsible in no samll de-
gre for the level of civic life which
the community attains or to which
it descends. If civic life becomes
corrupt, inefficient and blundering
morally weak, the fault lies wtih the
thinking men of the community who
permit the ignorant or vicious to
Like over the reins of ogevernment.
College graduates have been severely
arraigned, and with some justifica
tion, for their non-particinatioii in
the obligations of citizenship.
“There are problems of taxation,
of education, public morality and
welfare, citizenship, international
relations, peace and war demanding
solution. Who are better qualified
to advance the sound Christian doc
trine on these problems than your
selves, and who are more likely to
be heard with sympathy and appov-
al Ilian the graduates of our colleges
united in a Federation, one of whose
fundamental purposes is to bring to
bear upon public opinion the united
influence of the best thought of the
Catholic church?"
It Is Much Greater That Required By Faith in God Bishop
Noll Says in Address at University of Illinois
“The infidel’s lack of faith is bas
ed on l'ar greater crcdultiy than is
the faith of the believers in God,”
declared at Rt. Rev. John F. Noll, D.
D-, Bishop of Fort Wayne, in an
address an “The Credulity of the In
fidel” given at an all-university ser
vice before the students and facnlty
of the University of Illinois here De
cember 20.
“The professed infidel reasons
faultily when he upholds liis atti
tude by science,” said Bishop Noll.
“Science might prove that the uni
verse as we know it was not produc
ed in six days; it may be able to
prove that things as they are now
are not as they were originally—that
they were not produced by direct
creation, but by a process of evolu
tion. But how does such teaching
give encouragement to the infidel?”
“No matter whether the universe
was formed in six days or six million
years, a Creator is necessitated. It
is a philosophical axiom that some
thing cannot result from nothing,
and if everything that we know of
today has reached its perfection by
process of evolution from some pri
mordial thing, then the infinite wis
dom and power of God are equally
manifest—I might say more mani
fest—than they would be in direct
creation.”
'Evolution is still a theory and
has never been proved to be an in
controvertible fact. But if in some
future day it is absolutely proved to
be a fact, it will offer no consola
tion to the infidel, for the same God
who produced the starling point of
the process and gave it laws must
concern Himself about the tilings
evolved.
“According to the latest conclu
sion of Science, life cannot proceed
from matter. Therefore, the spirit
that is within each of us is the di
rect creation of God.”
“Spirit is by its nature immortal,
therefore it must continue to live af
ter the house which it inhabits here
on earth collapses,” said Bishop Noll.
“Where will it live? What will be
the state of its existence? Will it
depend on the conduct of the com
posite being here below? Are there
definite terms with which man can
comply?
“These and many other questions
cannot be settled with mathemati
cal precision by any human being,
because all depends on the free will
of God, who made man and to whom
he is to be accountable.”
Newton’s attention was ever given
to the great things of God; he was
no infidel, Bishop Noll reminded his
hearers. Pasteur’s attention was
given to the infinitesimal things
which could be viewed only through
a microscope, yet he was the per
sonification of reverence and faith.
All-University Convocations are
held each month in the University
auditorium and are addressed by
prominent churchmen of different
denominations. Bishop Noll’s ad
dress was the second in a series bv
Catholic clergymen. The address
last year was given by Bishop Jos
eph Schrembs of Cleveland.
Dr. David Kinlqy, president of the
University, presided at the convoca
tion.
Third Order of St. Francis
Secular Order Has Nearly 3,000,000 Members-
Perhaps Existed in Florida Before 1600
-Branch
By Joseph J. Dorney
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
A religious order of seculars with
upwards of 3 000,000 members, men
and women, young men and young
women; with branches in all parts
of the world, wherever a Francis
can Friar lias labored; with obliga
tions so simple they do not conflict
with the vocation of any one in the
world, and with spiritual benefits so
enormous they cannot all be told in
this article—that in brief, describes
tile Third Order of St. Francis, foun
ded more than 700 years ago by
“Gods Little Poor Man of Assisi”,
which has included in ils member
ship in centuries past, and still does
include, many of the world's great
est leaders as well as the middle
classes and the lowly.
Popes and kings, rulers and war
riors, persons celebrated in the his
tory of literature, the arts, politics,
invention and exploration have all
been proud to wear the cord and
scapular as members of the Third
Order of St. Francis.
Nearly 100 saints and blessed were
members of the Third Order. These
include St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
St. Louis, King of France; St. Fer
dinand, King of Castile; St. Eliza
beth of Portugal, St. Margaret of
(id-tuna, that wonderful penitent
of the Thirteenth century; St. Rosa
of Viterbo, St. Jean Baptiste Vian-
ney, the Cure of Ars, canonized by
Pope Pius a few mouths ago; Bles
sed Angela of Foligno and many
others. Pope Pius IX and Leo XIII
were Terliaries, as well as that great
Pope of the Holy Eucharist, Pius
X.
Among a few other members may
be- mentioned: Christopher Colum
bus, Dante, Giotto, Petrarch, Cola
di Rienzo, Vasco da Gama, Cervan
tes, Galvani, Volta, Garcia Moreno,
Liszt and Lady Georgiana Fullerton.
The preaching of St. Francis in
the early years of the Thirteenth
Century, as well as his own living
example and that of his disciples
exercised such a powerful attraction
on the people that many married
men and women wanted to join flic
first, or the second order (Poor
Clares). This being incompatible
with their state of life. St. Francis
found a middle way; be gave them
a Rule animated by the Franciscan
spirit. In the composition of this
Rule St. Francis was assisted by
Cardinal Ugolinb, later Pop 0 Gre
gory IX. The year of 1221 is gen
erally accepted as the date of the
foundation of this Third Order and
the oldest preserved rule bears this
date. The original rule contained
twelve chapters. A thirteenth was
added in 1227,
If we except a few points, bearing
especially on fasts and abstinences^
mitigated by Pope Clement VII in
1526, and Pope Paul III in 1547 and
a few minor changes of Pope Nich
olas IV about 1290, the original Rule
remained in force until 1883 when
Pope Leo XIII, himself a Tertiary,'
through the Apostolic Constitution
“Misericors Dei Filius,” modified the
text, adapting it more to the modern
stale and needs of society. All sub
stantial points, however, remained;
only the daily voeal prayers were re
duced, as also the. fasts and absti
nences, while the former statute
of confession and Holy Communion
thrice a year was changed into mon
thly Communion.
Other points of the modified Rule
of Pope Leo XIII are of great social
religious importance, such as the
prohibition of pomp in dressing, of
frequenting theatres of doubtful
character, and keeping and reading
papers' and books at variance with
faith and morals. The direction is
entrusted to the three branches of
the First Order, Friars Minor, Con
ventuals and Capuchins, and to the
Third Order Regular, The Francis
cans also have authority tp confer
on parish priests the establishing
and direction of confraternities of
the Third Order Secular. Those who
cannot join a confraternity may be
received as single members.
The age limit for admission to
the Third Order of St. Francis js
14 years and a year’s novitiate is
required before profession is made.
Application may be made to any <
Franciscan priest for admission or '
to any secular priest who has a
Third Order confraternity in his
parish. The Rnle is simple and llie
obligations such as any good Catho
lic may observe during the course
of his life. The Third Order is
rich in indulgences, plenary aud
partial, and these spiritual favors,
apart from other graces and advan
tages enjoyed by Terliaries, are pow
erful inducements to enter the Or
der.
The. Third Order Secular of St
Francis was established in the Uni
ted States by the. early Franciscan
missionaries for the white settlers
and soldiers and Indian converts,
especially in the Southern States
A confraternity existed in New Mex
ico almost at the time of the re-
conquest (1692-1G95), and a confra
ternity existed at Santa Fe before
1680. It is probable a confraternily
existed at St. Augustine, Fla., before
the close of the Sixteenth Century,
and at San Antonio. Texas, before
the middle of the Eighteenth Cen
tury. There are at present aboul
200 confraternities of the Third Op
der of St. Francis in this country
with more than 50,000 members, the
majority being under the direction
of the Friars Minor. Besides theM
there are hundreds ot Tertlarfes it
the United States not affiliated, wits
any congregate*.