Newspaper Page Text
MARCH 20, 1926
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
5
A PAGE OF CATHOLIC INFORMATION
Eucharistic Congress Call
From the Pastoral Letter of George Cardinal Mundelein
Issued to the Catholics of Chicago
When a great guest comes, we clean and brighten and adorn our
homes to receive him, and we ofjpk from our treasures the most
pleasing and acceptable as the evidence of our esteem and apprecia
tion; so too on this occasion. For the first time our Sacramental
Lord is to be publicly received and honored by the people of an
American city. He becomes the guest of the city and diocese of
Chicago; every Catholic worthy of the name will try to prove him
self a generous host.
There is one duty that we all share equally, one tribute to which
we all Can and must contribute, if we do not want to feel ourselves
strangers in our Father’s house and in the family of the faithful on
the eventful day when the Congress opens next .Tune. As the head
of this .great Church, as your leader and spokesman, I offered to God
and promised to His Vicar on earth, our Holy Father, for his parti
cular intention, one million Communions on the Sunday morning
the Congress opens. And then ,1 had in mind not the Catholics dwel
ling elsewhere, not the strangers within our gates, but every soul
in this city and diocese who lays claim to the Catholic name and
professes adherence and obedience to the Catholic Faith; even of
those who have been none too fervent in the past; yet on that morn
ing we hope and pray that none will he absent from the Eucharistic
banquet, no one will decline to personally welcome God’s divine Son
in this way. not one will be an absent prodigal when the whole Ca
tholic family gathers about the Holy Table, to partake of the Parschal
Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.
If we succeed in doing this w c will accomplish what no people
have ever done before, we will have offered the Eucharistic King
a tribute such as, all the glory of the pageantry, all the splendor
of the ritual, all the eloquence of the many discourses cannot pro
duce. Who knows whether our unified gift of a million Communions
rising like a vast cloud of inceuse to the throne of God may not
bring about a great change in the world’s events in the years to
come; for I know what is in tile Sovereign Pontiff’s mind, and
how stupendous the grace is which he hopes to obtain by our gift
of a million Communions in one day.
This then is the purpose of this message of mine to the great peo
ple confided to me by God. After all. the message is not a new one
nothing novel in glory on our altars in a few short months, the
word that goes to you is the same as the angels chanted on that Chr
istmas night when He came down poor, humble, obscure into the
stable at Bethlehem. It is the same word as the children's voices
sing in our churches and our homes at Christmas time. It is the
same message that I hope and pray may greet you and me when we
open our eyes in eternity, “Come all ye faithful, joyful, triumphant,
let u s hasten to adore Him, our Lord and our King.”
The Meaning of a Retreat
Rev. E. F. Garesche, S. J., in the Sunday Visitor
We all have a better self within us
which struggles for expression and
which shows itself in our finer mo
ments when our good impulses get
the uppermost. This better self of
ours i fakes us dutiful toward God,
kind toward our neighbor, honest,
loyal, upright, industrious, giving
and doing the best that is in us for
the salvation of our own soul and
for the help and cheer and salvation
of all about us.
If is this better self of our that
God loves, that our friends appre
ciate, that we ourselves desire to
see develop and grow strong within
us. But this poor better self is of
ten hard put to it to hold its own
against our lower self and against
the difficulties, distractions and
temptations which we meet in life.
“The world is too mucli^with us,
late and soon, gathering and spend
ing, we lay waste our powers.” Wc
see what is right and we should
like to do it and then we do what
is evil. We are weak and thought
less and wc do not remember at the
right time the good resolutions and
holy motives which should inspire
us.
We need to go apart a while from
our ordinary life, to think seriously
and to pray earnestly, to find opt
where we stand with God and to
make good and practical resolves so
that we may in all things act ac-
A Little Advice
corning to reason ana taitn anil not
as we too often do from selfishness,
self-interest, and passion. In other
words, we need to make a retreat
as it is called, by quitting for a
while, our ordinary life and giving
two or three days unreservedly to
God.
It is a very vyonderful and in a
sense a very delightful experience to
make a closed retreat. If you have
never made one, you have an experi
ence before you the like of which you
have never had before. A retreat
is not at all a gloomy or painful pro
ceeding. On the contrary, it is a
dose of calm and joy, a rest for the
soul, a relief from worries and an
xieties, an occasion of spiritual peace
and happiness. When you come out
of a retreat, you will feel spiritually
refreshed and.young. You will be
warm with good resolves and the
eyes of your soul will be clear and
joyful. Life has been shown to you
in a new light, your faith has grown
more real to you, you aVe a new man
interiorly and this is the blessed
fruit of the retreat. That is the
reason why the men who have made
retreats are the best apostles of the
retreat gospel. They have enjoyed
the retreat so much and have been
so much helped by it that they nat
urally' wish to secure for others the
same blessings that they themselves
have received.
“The Glory of the Jesuits”
From “Charity and Children’’, a Baptist Paper Published
At Thomasville, North Carolina
When the Pope Is Fallible
Many of our neighbors who are
not' Catholics do not understand the
meaning of .the infallibility of the
Pope. The Pope is infallible only
on those rare occasions when he
speaks ex cathedra, to the univer
sal church, on matters of faith or
morals.
The following story from an ex
change will lie instructive to those
who believe that Catholics regard
every * statement of the Pope as in
fallible:. . .
Pope Leo XIII. was gravity and
sternness itself. On one occasion,
however he laughed heartily.
Archbishop Murphy, of Hobart,
Tasmania, visited Rome, at the age
of seventy-nine, and was received
in private audience by the great
Pope Leo who held the aged prel
ate in high esteem. When saying
farewell, the Holy Father, already
an old man himself, remarked:
“Well, my dear brother, I sup
pose this is our last meeting in
this world.’’
Five years passed and again
Bishop Murphy made his official
visit to the Holy See and present
ed himself at the Vatican, as lively
and vigorous as before. He re
minded the Pope of his words on
his previous visit, and added
smilingly:
“So you see, Your Holiness, you
are not infallible after all I”
It was then Pope Leo laughed,
Just a word of kindly advice to
the Catholics taking public office
on January first. The city of Buf
falo is watching you. The eyes of
her citizens are upon you. They
expect your best in every public
move—and they have that right. The
electorate have entrusted you with a
great rcspsonsibility. With the oner
ous burden of protecting their in
terests, of promoting their welfare
of spending their money honestly,
or so conducting yourselves that up
on leaving office everyone may say
to your credit that the city is better
for having chosen you ag a repre
sentative.
Your election has disproven the
falsehood that a man’s religion is a
barrier to public office. Catholic and
non-Catliolic alike voted for you be
cause they considered you capable
of performing the duties of your
office in a statesmanlike manner.
Play no favorites 1 Never, never se
lect an unqualified friend to fill a
subordinate position. Rather choose
a qualified enemy. Sometimes our
enemies prove to be our best friends
and our bosom friends, our greatest
enemies. Be not swayed by flattery
or prejudice. Never stoop to accept
a dollar to sway your opinion. Po
litical tricksters bribed Judas to be
tray the Son of God. The man who
accepts silver to change his judg
ment is another Judas to his constit
uency,—Catholic Union and Times.
Bryan’s Irish Ancestry
From the Catholic Witness,
Dubuque, Iowa
The late Mr. Wm. Jennings Bryan
was not ashamed of his Irish ances
try. He was above the common eva
sion of the term “Scotch-Irish,” a
word by the way of recent origin
and of anti-Catholic connotations.
“My father,” Mr. Bryan roundly
says, “was of Irish extraction.” Thus
he avers in his autobiography now
running in the newspapers.
By the way there seems, to be no
thing to the charge of anti-Catholic
bigotry that the politicians used to
urge so persistently against Bryan.
Col. Callahan of Louisville, whose
loyalty to his deceased friend is
most admirable, offers a weight and
wealth of evidence that ought to be
conclusive Bryan, according to
Col. Callahan was certainly no bigot,
but a man of Spartan simplicity of
habits, of deeply sincere and relig
ious nature, in character of spotless
purity and of unimpeachable integ
rity- The charge of miserliness, ac
cording to Col. Callahan, was equal
ly as^ groundless.
Charges of bigotry arc frequently
vile calumnies circulated by com
mercial and political rivals out of
despicably mean and selfish mo
tives. Such charges ought to be
scrutinized most carefully and not
accepted unless proved up to the
hilt. Simple justice demands no less.
Life is hard enough without the
additional handicap of having to
struggle and struggle unjustly
against the enmity of a large section
of the population alienated by cal
umnious charges.
Catholic Nurses In U. S.
Exceed 30,000 In Number
The growth of the nursing profes
sion, particularly in Catholic hospi
tals, is illustrated by statistics made
public here through the Interna
tional Catholic Guild of Nurses,
which has its headquarters at 124
Thirteenth street in New York.
In the 715 Catholic hospitals in
the United States and Canada,
ibout 100 schools of nursing have
been established and the graduate
students of nursing each year num
ber several thousands. Catholic
students are also to be.found in the
nursing schools of secular hospitals
and the total number of nursing
schools in the United States alone
is 1700. Out of 150,000 registered
graduate nurses in the United States
it is estimated that from 30.000 to
40,000 are Catholics
To lieeji in touch with these Cath
olic nurses and to provide an or
ganization to represent them, the
International Guild of Nurses has
been formed under the direction of
the Rev. Edward F. Garesche, S. J.,
editor of Hospital Progress. The
Guild is a department of the Catho
lic Hospital Association and mem
bership in it includes membership
in the Association and a subscrip
tion to the magazine ‘Hospital Pro
gress.” The Guild has members in
233 cities in the United States, ten
cities in Canada, and in Dublin and
Edinburgh.
Checking Blasphemy
From the Columbia, S. C.,
State
On the first of January the Rever-
ned Eugene J. Callahan, spiritual
director of the Holy Name branch
of St. Gregory’s church, delivered a
sermon at St. Patrick’s Cathedral,
New York, to 3,500 male delegates
from the society’s branches in the
432 churches in the archdiocese, in
which he announced that one hund
red thousand members of the Arch
diocese Holy Name Society of New
York would wage war against those
theatrical producers who permit the
use of profanity on the stage.
Surely it is time to check the “cold
blooded, flow of blasphemy, now
grown so strong in the theatres. It
is an offense to the ears of decency,
but as an element of the audiences
laugh, it will continue so long as
there is no organized protest. The
producers, being largely of that ele
ment having no respect for “holy
names,” can not be effectively
reached save through the sort of
protest which has its echo at the box
office.
Is this recent increase in the
gratutious use of profanity, simply
and only for the sake of profane, a
phase of extreme “Modernism”?
What is the undermining purpose of
making “holy names” common? It
is undermining.
If a hundred thousand New York
ers take active part in Father Cal
lahan’s “war” on the producers re
sponsible for it, heed will be taken.
They may not respect Christianity,
but they will bow to the potency of
the withheld dollars.
The very name of Jesuit is enough
to inflame some Protestants who are
as zealous as they are ignorant. To
such people it means nothing but
what is detestable. They would be
honestly amazed to learn that around
that name hang some of the most
glorious stories of the Christian
faith. Not long since there appeared
a h.*ok called “The Jesuit Martyrs
of North America” that should lie
glanctd at, at least, by every intelli
gent Protestant.
The book is not to be recommend
ed for general reading for two rea
sons—first, it is frankly Catholic
propaganda, bearing the imprimatur
of Cardinal Hayes, and second, be
cause it is exceedingly dull in part.
Nevertheless the story of the suf
ferings of the Jesuit priests among
the Indians is all too true, and it is
anything but dull. These mission
aries were absolutely indifferent not
merely to death, but to death in
forms so horrible that it curdles
the blood to read about them after
300 years. They faced the utmost
that the savage fury of the Indians
could do because they were men of
God.
(From The N. C. W. C. Bulletin)
What has the Catholic Encyclope
dia done for the Church? In the
first place it has organized Catholic
talent and scholarship all over the
world. Georges Goy.au, of the
French Academy, describes the work
as a “crusade of intellect,” just as
in the Middle Ages there were cru
sades of men at arms. It employed
the services of over a thousand men
and women, in forty-three different
countries, writing in every language.
It has discovered and brought out
writers in this country who never
before had an opportunity to display
their talent, style and special know
ledge. Since its completion, many
of these writers have continued to
contribute articles to various perio
dicals and to various general works
of reference. Many of them have
written books.
It .was the first religious encyclo
pedia to go beyond the limits of a
Church Dictionary, to treat not only
the doctrine of the Church, its canon
law, liturgy, and the ecclesiastical
side merely of its history, but also
to give its full share in human life,
in every field of mental and moral
activity, in secular history, in all
art, philosophy, science, education,
literature, exploration, racial and
national matters. It emphasized the
fact that the Church was the great
est factor in civilization as well as
in Christianity.
The Encyclopedia has given the
position of the Church on every
vital question, on evolution, autho
rity, capital, labor, usury, strikes,
education, marriage,-law, racial and
national characteristics and ivals,
charities, immigration, prohibition.
It has done all this in such a way
as to show the reasonableness of
this position, the consistency of the
Church’s stand at the present day
with her stand on all these things
in the past. Best of all, it illustrates
the spirit of the Church in dealing
with every question of human in
terest, its dislike of controversy, its
impartiality, its habit of treating
fairly all sides, its readiness to ac
cept any established fact or theory,
its painstaking manner of weighing
proofs.
Archbishop Quigley of Chicago
predicted that the Encyclopedia
would create a new public opinion,
and this it has been doing from
the start. First, it developed a com
mon sentiment among Catholics, and
extreme caution in the discussion of
religious matters during the period
when Modernism was rampant. It
has had a decided influence on pub
lic opinion as expressed in our news
papers, periodicals, books, especially
in general works of reference. Rare
ly now do we meet in any of these
with the errors and absurd state
ments with which the Catholic read
er was confronted at the dawn of
this century, just before the Ency
clopedia was announced. Less and
lees do we hear of the Inquisition
as a Church Tribunal, of the Mas
sacre of St. Bartholomew as instigat
ed by Rome, of the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes as inspired by re
ligious prejudice, of the Pope grant
ing annulments of marriage instead
of divorce, etc. Even the publishers
of general works of reference, like
the International, Americana, Bri-
tannica, have felt it necessary to
correct thousands of mis-statements
l which littered their pages, and to
We differ with the Catholics in
many important points; but we do
wrong when we allow our points of
difference to obscure the fact that,
after all, we worship the same God.
We do wrong when we condemn the
Catholic hierarchy as totally de
praved. There are good men in it
now and all down the centuries it
has possessed its heroes of the faith
who are due the honor and praise
of Protestants as much as of Catho
lics.
These Jesuits who came to Amer
ica to bring to the red man the gos
pel of Jesus of Nazareth at a time
when all other white men—our Pro
testant ancestors included—were
coining mainly to seize the red man’s
lands, these Jesuits, who rejoiced to
die if their deaths might help set
up the Cross in the wilderness, liavs
given such lustre to the name o*
their order that the work of all dis
honest Jesuits has not destroyed it
completely. Let us remember this
when we are tempted to pour oul
the vials of scorn upon Catholics in
general and Jesuits in particular. It
will help us to avoid falling into
the wickedness of hating our fellow
Christians.
employ a large number of Catholic
writers, whereas up to 1900 they had
scarcely a Catholic among their con
tributors.
The Encyclopedia was the first
great evidence of Catholic scholar
ship in this and other countries
which so impressed Protestants gen
erally that they have practically all
ceased to talk of Catholics as if they
were illiterate. Dr. Kinsman in
“Salve Mater” tells how his first in
spection of the Encyclopedia was a
decided shock. The projectors of
the new Protestant Encyclopedia to
be entitled “The Encyclopedia of
Christianity” have not issued one
circular announcement without stat
ing that they wish to publish a work
that will be of the same standard
as The Catholic Encyclopedia.
The Encyjopedia is in every Pub
lic Library worthy of the name in
this count it, in all the great secular
universities and state colleges, in
every Protestant seminary of im
portance. One public library lias
several sets. One of them has been
so much used that it had to be re
bound four times. In one Protestant
seminary nineteen of the students
bought the work at the recommenda
tion of a professor. In several of
these seminaries there are many
copies among the professors and
students. Very many of the public
schools, high and even elementary,
in such cities as New York. Boston,
Philadelphia, have copies of the En
cyclopedia.
The Encyclopedia ^s referred to in
almost every scholarly list of books
published under the title of Biblio
graphy in works on religion, history,
philosophy, sociology, etc. It has
been quoted in court decisions, as
for instance on the subject of be
quests for Masses, gambling, danc
ing. education, etc. It is not unusual
to have it recommended or quoted
as an authority not only by Catholic
speakers, but by Protestants also
over the radio.
Many a bishop, and hosts of
priests arc fond of telling how the
Encyclopedia is a never-failing sour
ce for their lectures, sermons, and
for the casual remarks they are
often obliged to make at receptions,
dinners, commencements, and other
gatherings. The teachers in Catholic
schools look to the Encyclopedia for
the ready information they need to
round out and make more interest
ing their knowledge of the subjects
they are teaching. Editors of Catho
lic papers are forever sounding its
praise as a valuable auxiliary to
their work. The Catholic layman
who has to speak in public or write
has now the advantage that with
the Encyclopedia he is sure of his
ground and that he can venture to
talk with confidence on subjects
which formerly he considered it
more prudent to leave to those who
have been trained specially in eccle
siastical lore.
Finally, with the Encyclopedia we
are no longer in the position we
were a quarter of a century ago, of
having to complain about the er
roneous things that were said a-
gainst us, without having positive
and authoritative statements on
every subject connected with re
ligion. The Encyclopedia is thus a
? owerful constructive element in the
ife of the Church. What it has al
ready done for religion since its
completion, it will continue to do
even more abundantly in the future.
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Rev. John J. Wynne, S. J., Tells ^fhat This Monumental
Work of Catholic Scholarship Has Done For the Church