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MAY 9, 1926.
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
7
A PAGE OF CATHOLIC INFORMATION
Why I Am a Catholic
Eloquent and Scholarly Address DeEvered April 18 at
Sacred Heart Church, Augusta, by Rev. D.J. Foulkes, S.J,
Catholics and Lynching
An Association Letter
“Breathes there a man with soul so
dead,
■Who never to himself hatli said:
This is my own, my native land?
Whose heart hath ne’er within him
burned
As honife his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand ?
Is such there he—go! Mark him well!
For him no minstrel raptures swell,
High though his titles, proud his name.
Boundless his wealth as wish may claim
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch concentred all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying—shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he
spruug—
Unknown, unhonored and unsung?"
These words of the Scottish bard
arc an appropriate and fitting epi
taph for one who is a despicable
knight-errant, a man, with no coun
try he can call his own, with no flag
whose fluttering sends the blood of
old age rushing madly through the
veins or makes the infant’s sinews
hard as steel; one invincible in
peace, but invisible in war when free
men are called to defend hearth
and home and loved ones; one
whose leaden soul remains untouch
ed by the poetic beauty of the hill
and dell and splashing steanflet or
musical cascade of the land we call
home, sweet home.
Go! Write them on the marble
slab that hides the remains of him
who was not an enthusiastic son of
that Church whose empire reaches
from pole to pole. She, the mother
who nurtured him in his infancy,
strengthened him in his childhood
blessed him in his irfanhood and
stood at his bedside when in old
age he looked anxiously toward the
great unknown beyond the valley
of the shadow of death. She is a
virgin mother with the snows of
1900 winters on her unfurrowed
brow; yet, a mother ever old, but
yet ever young, the aureola of im
morality encircling her fair form.
She is the despair of poets, the. in
spiration of artists, the undying
theme of orators, the spouse of Him
in whom we move and live and have
our being,’ the grand old rock of
ages, unmoved, immovable our own
holy and Catholic and apostolic
church, whose imprisoned king Jives
and rules and commands as the
visible vice regent of Christ Jesus,
her divine Founder.
She, the—
“Elect from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faih. One birth.
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
An'd to one hope shep resses
With every grace endured."
Why am I a member of that
church? Why am I a Catholic?
To have a reason for the faith that
is in me in the most momentous
problem propounded to the ques
tioning soul and the anxious, yearn
ing heart of man. Because the Cath
olic church solves that problem in
a. voice that never falters, my heart,
my mind, my soul adhere to her
with a tenacity naught can ever
weaken or undermine.
I am, a Catholic because I am a
son of that soil baptised with the
martyrblood of my ancestors—the
isle of saints, the home of finished
scholars, the cradle of heroes, the
perennial spring of Christian mis
sionaries, one of a race endowed
with an aggressive steadfastness and
passionate devoledness to the faith
in Jesus Christ that could never be
stifled. Nothing could kill it. Fire
could not scorcli it, nor prison rot
it, nor famine starve it, nor the gai
lows choke it; the land of poetry the
home of oratory, the isle sanctified
and blessed by the heroic labors of
tlie apostle of our love, the emerald
of tlie Western sea, dear old Ireland
•Far o’er the sea there is a little green
island.
Ireland, ’tis called, ’tis a sweet name
to me,
And while 1 live it willalways be my
land,
Tho’ many miles from its shore I
may be.
Home of my childhood, I’ll think of you
ever,
You’re in my thoughts every night
every day.
And, like my mother, 111 soc again
never,
My heurt Is with you so far, far away.
Ireland I love you, Acushia Macrce,
And ‘tlio’ your shores I may never
more see, ,
Still will you e’er he remembered by
me,
Ireland, I love you, Acushia Maclirec!
Alii Can you blame me for having that
undying love for Ibis blessed isle?
“Sure! A little bit of heaven fell from
out tlie sky one day,
And nestled in the ocean in a spot so
far away.
And when the angels found it, it look
ed so sweet and fair
They said: “Suppose we leave it, for
it looks so peaceful there.”
So they sprinkled it with star dust just
to make the shamrocks grow.
Tis the only place you’ll find them, no
matter where you go ;
Then they dotted it with silver to make
its lakes so grand,
And when they had it finished—sure,
they called it Ireland.”
I an? n Catholic because that
church gave me the best, the truest,
the staunchest friend a man can
have. She is the embodiment of
every virtue—a faith in Christ noth
ing could weaken, a resignation
to sorrow and adversity sublime in
its pathos, a purity angelic in its
spotlessness, a patience patterned
after that of the Lamb emulated on
Calvary, one whose private life was
above reproach, whose public life
was above reproach, whose public
life was 5n inspiration to those who
knew. Here was a life spent in do
ing good. A friend was she to the
homeless, a counsellor to wayward
and tlie erring, a benefactress to the
poor, yea, a mother to the mother
less babe. She lived a sinless life,
died a saintly death and today what
ever qualities her children possess,
whatever good they do in the cause
of suffering humanity, they owe it
to her, the sweetest type of woman
hood that ever lived. At her feet
I lisped my first prayers, there I
learned the meaning of justice, truth
and morality that make me proud
of the blood that courses through
those veins. Yes, I am Catholic be
cause I had an Irish Catholic mother,
God bless her! Sweet Jesus, may she
rest in peace.
I am .Catholic because I boast of
Protestant relationship. My Metho
dist father was found like John
Henry Newman and thousands of
other seekers after truth, tossed a-
bolit by every wind of doctrine.
With Newman many a time and oft
did he whisper that sweetest prayer:
Lead kindly light amid the encircling
f loom,
thou me on!
The night Is dark and 1 am far from
home.
Lead thou mp on!
Keep thou my feet—I do not wish to see
The distant scene—one step enough for
me.
Yes! The ‘“kindly light” like the
scintillating star that led the Magi
to the crib wherein nestled the Em
manuel, the expected of nations, led
him to the Church of Peter, and over
his prostrate form from the day of
his submission, in the person of her
black-robed priest, she made the
mystic sign that ushers the trembl
ing soul into joys eternal. He lived
an upright mail, a model, law-abid
rag citizen, a loving husband a de
voted father, a frienjrf tried and true
—and there in the vale ’neatli the
weeping willows that forever chant
their sad, funeral dirge, with the
wife lie loved witli a love stronger
than .death, lie avails the dawn of
the Judgment Day.
The attention of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association was di
rected by a Georgia priest work
ing among colored Catholjcg to
an article in The Defender, a
paper published in Chicago in
the interests of the colored race,
headed: “Catholicism, Silent as
to Lynching, Fights Dry Law.”
The title indicates the tone of
the article. The following letter
was written to the paper and pub
lished in a recent issue:
Dear Sir:
Our attention has been directed
to an article in your February 13
issue headed: ‘“Catholicism, Silent as
to Lynching, Fighting Dry Law.”
Enclosed is a pamphlet, written
by the late RL Rev. Benjamin J.
Keilcy, D D., for twenty years Cath
olic Bishop of Savannah, who died
within the year. Thousands of cop
ies of this pamphlet were published
and distributed free in Georgia and
elsewhere by tlie Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia.
Catholic papers such as' America,
The Catholic World, The Common
weal, Catholic Missions, The Ave Ma
ria and other publications reflecting
Catholic thought have all denounc
ed lynching for the un-Christian
thing it is.
The Diocese of Savannah, which
is co-extensive with the state of
Georgia, and which lias but 20,000
white Catholics, has five schools for
colored Catholics, almost entirely
supported by whites, attended by 399
boys and 490 girls. Docs this not
show real interest in the progress
of the colored race?
We Catholics have been victims
of injustices and prejudice ourselves
and we have found, that the worst
way to try to remedy the situation
is to stir up hatred in the hearts of
one s own people against those
working for the betterment of con
ditions, as your publication is doing
in carrying articles such as this one
misrepresenting and reviling the
Catholic church. \.
But mere accident of birth is not
the cause of mv Catholicity. My
parents were Catholics for the same
reasons that make me one, and the
arguments 1 shall now adduce are
precisely the ones they advanced
to support their Catholic faith.
I am a Catholic not because I have
a blind faith in the Catholic church
whose doctrines I do not clearly un
derstand. Just the reverse is true.
My faith is not blind at all. I am
a Catholic because 1 see the truths
that God has revealed so clearly that
not the shadow of a doubt ever cros
ses by mind. Hence ignorance, or
lack of instruction or defective edu
cation is not the reason for my
Catholic faith.
I am a Catholic not because Iam
unfamiliar with the Bible. I have
been reading and studying holy
scripture from my early youth. The
Bible ever held a place of honor in
my own home. I have memorized
many passages of it, read many
parts of it and do so every day of
my life, and I ant able to quote
chapter ond verso for every funda
mental doctrine of my faith. My
knowledge of the Bible only streng
thens my faith.
I am a (lalliolic, not because of my
lack of knowledge 'regarding the
teaching of the other denominations
claiming to he the church of Christ
1 am familiar with the basic princi
ples of every Christian and non-
Christian denomination. I have
weighed, have balanced their respec
tive doctrines, and I admire what-
ecer truth there is found in them,
with malice toward none and charity
toward all; my moto is that of the
great Augustine: “In necessary
things let there be unity, in doubt
ful things let there be liberty, but
in all things let there be
charity!” ’ I respect and bless
the soul that claims any of
any man nor minimize or condemn
the efforts they make for the uplift
of poor, suffering humanity, but I
find, after deep study and well-
balanced investigation, that none of
them to my satisfaction',’ teaches
in their fullness the same doctrines
that were taught by Christ and His
apostles. I am then a Catholic not
because of a deliberate unwillncss to
seek everywhere for the teachings
ot Christ, but rather because I have
investigated so exhaustively their
claims to divine authorships.
■ r-
I "ain' a Catholic because that
church is apstolic—the church estab
lished by Christ’s apostles and
teaching the same doctrines which
the apostles taught and with min
isters deriving their authority from
the same ajostles. By historical
documents I can prove it is the only
church built upon the foundation
of the apostics and whose bishops
and priests today derive all their
powers in an uninterrupted succes
sion from the apostles down to the
present day without any gap or any
intermission, and during all that
time, just as today, it has taught
every single doctrine taught by the
apostles.. It is the only Christian
institution in existence that can
trace its history in a direct line
from the present day back to the
dim distance of the earliest anti
quity — even to the very hour of
Christ and the apostles.
I am a Catholic because the Cath
olic church has ever been the origin
and source and conserver of the
civilization of the present, day, yes,
the source of freedom and liberty.
Eighteen centuries before our gov
ernment, built upon the recognition
of the equality of all men, had seen
the light of day, she thundered —
there on the throne of the Caesars
—the lesson of that equality born
in Bethlehem’s cave, sealed on Cal
vary’s summit and consummated in
a fiery baptism on the first Pen
tecostal sabbath. Even during those
centuries, which it was once the
custom to call dark, when the hu
man intellict lay slumbering, it was
the Catholic church that kept the
lantern of science ever burning. Go
through the aunals of the world’s
history and you will see, that when
not crushed by tyrants or throttled
by penal laws, it was the Catholic
church that founded libraries, open
ed museums, endowed universities
and schools, provided them with
teachers, promoted scientific dis
coveries, fostered intellectual culture
and encouraged the manifold pro
ductions of human genius.
Diocese of Savannah
Rt. Rev. Bishop Keyes in Letter to Clergy Announces
Conditions For G-ainaing Jubilee Indulgence in Georgia
April 14, 1926.
Reverend dear Father:
Please make known lo your,
people that the Holy Father has
extended the privilege of the Ju
bilee Indulgence to the faithful
throughout the world, and in at
least one sermon explain to them
lie nature of Indulgences, exhort
ing them at the same time to
avail themselves of the means of
Grace so generously ‘granted
them by the Holy See.’
Th e conditions for gaining the
Indulgence are as follows:
I. The worthy reception of the
Sacraments of Penance and Holy
Eucharist. Neither Easter Com
munion nor annual confession
will suffice.
II. Four visits, for five days,
which need not he consecutive,
must be made to the church or
churches designated.
I’L At each visit prayers for
the intentions of the Holy Father
must be offered. These inten
tions arc: Tlie propagation of the
evangelical faith, peace and good
will among peoples,’ and the pro
tection of the Holy Places in Pal
estine.
IV. The Indulgence may be
gained no more than twice: Once
for oneself and once foir the Souls
in Purgatory, or twice for the Souls
in Purgatory.
V. Members of Cathedral Parish
should visit the Cathedral and
any other three churches i% Sa
vannah. Members of other par
ishes in the City or Savannah
should visit the Cathedral, their
own church, and any other two
churches.
Outside the City of Savannah
all the churches should be vis
ited; and where there arc less
than four churches, the visits re
quired above the number of
churches may be* made by re
peated visits to any church.
VI. Members of a religious
community and all who live in a re
ligious (bouse Or convent may
gain the Indulgence by making
the visits to their community
chapel. This you will make known
immediately to all religious com
munities in your territory.
VII. The sick and those who
care for them, those who live a
great distance from a church or
whose parish church is a mission
open only for a short time on
Sunday, those over seventy years
of age, prisoners, traveling men
and women, and those who for
any reason are unable to make
the required number of visits
may have the visits commuted
to some other good work accord
ing to their circumstances. All
pastors and confessors in the
diocese of Savannah are hereby
delegated for this purpose. But
even should the visits be omit
ted, the prayers should if possible
be said.
For confession made as one of
the conditions for gaining the In
dulgence, extensive faculties aye
granted to all confessors to the
diocese to absolve from all sin
and censure with the exception of
a few cases. For these you are
referred to the Ecclesiastical Re
view, March 1926, pp. 300-301. Sis
ters in religious comunities may
make confession for the Jubilee
to any priest who has faculties
in the diocese.
Faithfully yours in Crist,
MICHAEL J. KEYES, -|-
Bishop of Savannah.
Newman and Orestes Brown son —
who followed the lead of the “kindly
light” and found in her the church
of Peter, the rock, and of Christ, the
founder.
I am a Catholic because the Catho
lic church is the only church in
which there is a striking resembl
ance to Christ by reason of the fact
that it is constantly persecuted, ful
filling in that particular the pro
phecy uttered by Him centuries ago.
Christ was a man of sorrows and the
Church, his spouse, likewise must
be ever afflicted.
I am a Catholic, finally, because I
am- not by any accident of birth—
but by deliberate, flee choice, a
partiotic American — and for me
there is an emblem that speaks
more eloquently than the persuasive
words of the most gifted, golden-
lounged orator;
“Its stripes of red eternal dyed with
heart streams from all lands,
Its white—the snow-capped hills that
hide in storm their upraised
hands,
Its hlue, the ocean waves that beat
’round Freedom’s circlet! shore,
Its stars—the prints of angels* feet that
burn forevermore 1
Y’ou have guessed its name— a
This the flag of the free,
Fairest to see.
The flag of the brave,
Long may it wave.
Our flag, your flag and mine— the
Stars and Stripes forever 1 There it
if floating proudly o’er the land! Sec
it flashing defiantly o’er the sea, a
flag that has never known dishonor,
one that has never yet been and never
shall be lowered in defeat, its glori
ous star and bar enshrined in the
heart of hearts of every man who
calls himself a Catholic American!
and by consequence the highest typo
of patriot must he the obedient son
of this Church—tlie rock of ages—*
must be he who wears entwined th^
cross and red and white and blue.
What is the Catholic church doing
today for the protection of our An>
erican republic? She is shielding
it as no other denomination can.
She condemns and anathematizes
any’ and every effort to main, undel‘-
minc and destroy it. She allows no
theory to be advanced that is’ sub
versive of law and order. She coi>>
demns any system that tends to
weaken the respect we owe to right*
ful authority ad the love we pay ouy
flag. She stands for right 1 She
stands for justice! She stands for;
all those civic virtues that are the
foundation of any genuine democra
cy 1
I am a Catholic because the
greatest intellects this world has
ever seen were members of this
same church. In theology, in philo
sophy, in surgery, in the arts and in
the sciences—everywhere the bright
est minds were humble children of
this same venerable mother; witness
the greatest architect, Bramente, the
greatest sculptor, Michael Angelo;
the greatest painter, Raphael; the
greatest poet, Dante; the most ac
complished musicians, the leading
inventors, the greatest discoverer—
the man who guessed the greatest
secret on rcord:
The great immortal Genoese who spread
the faith afar,
The Genoese who gave our flag its
every stripe and star,
Who found the world and gave the
world to youan d me;
Gave all the land to smile benetli
the banner of the free.
Yes, Christopher Columbus was
the proud offspring of the same
Catholic church — and with these
may we not enumerate those world
renowned converts, John Henry
Since the day when John Carroll
of Carrollton signed the Declara
tion of Independence, Catholics have
ever been found ready to serve their
country in time of peace or under
the stress of war. From every Catho
lic pulpit in the land, whether found
in stately cathedral or lowly way-
side chapel; whether in the busy
marts of the East or the wigwams
of the West; whether amid the
snows of the North or on the
boundless prairies of the South,
everywhere, at all times even when
we were fa sely accused—as wc arc
today—of ’ ving allegiance to a for
eign poter ile and branded as trai
tors to thil banner; everywhere, say
I, have we been taught all those
virtues that make for genuine love
of country, reverence for the flag
and pure, untarnished, unadulterated
unhyphenated patriotism and Amer
icanism.
We sons and daughters of such £
mother unpatriotic 1 We un-Amere.
can! Call us to arms! Call us tqi
arms! We enemies of the flag! Nol
by the God of Israel. No, by the
Catholic blood shed at Bunker Hill,
Lundy’s Lane and Fredericksburg 1
No, by the memory of a Columbus
who discovered this empire of the
Western seas! No, by the Carrolls,
the Barrys, the Moylans, the Roch-
ambeaus, the Lafayettes, the Pu
la skis, Casimirs! No, by the Sher
idans, Shields, Meaghers, the poet,
priest and patriot Abraham J. Ryan,
the bard of the lost cause! No, by
the black robes—priest, and nun—
who spent their lives in civilizing
the savages of our land or furthered
the cause of Christ in pulpit, school
and hospital! No, by the Catholic
blood spilled on our beloved soil!
That blood of heroes is the seed of
patriotism, and the flag—our flag—
our glorious flag—our immortal Hag
that floats defiantly today o’er the
hallowed dust of those deathless
dead—speaks of the patriotism, un
dying and enthusiastic, of every son
of the Catholic church. Yes! I am
a Catholic because I am an Ameri
can.
Yes, oh, yes! Our flag! Our glo
rious flag 1 Onrs it is for the simple
reason that the religion we profess
makes for truth and justice and
morality; for all those civic virtues
that are the keystone of any form
of government—carping critics, ig
norant charatans, time-serving edi
tors, bogus ex-priests, hired liars
Ind unprincipled character assassins
to the contrary notwithstanding —
Yes! Oh, yes! Here before tbfi
God of high heaven do I make the
solemn vow, I wish to live a fervent,
stanch member of the Catholic
church and a patriotic, law-abiding
citizen of this glorious republic of
the United Stales—and when I die
let nfy shroud be the black robe of
tho Catholic priest that has never-
known dishonor—and o’er my mod
est grave erect a cross, unfurl tha
immortal banner of the free and tha
brave—there let it flutter until the
trumpet call announce the last grand
reveille of the eternal Easter day
when measured time shall be merg
ed into the endless years of a bless
ed eternity and we shall all. J
fervently pray, stand united undef!
the cross triumphant and the imw
moral banner of our glorious Cap*
tain and King—Christ Jesusi _>