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MAY 21, 1927 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 9 Mary, The Greatest of Mothers Mother’s Day Sermon by Rev. Harold Barr at Church of St. Mary-On-The-Hill, Augusta, Ga. ‘Beliold, All Nations shall call me Blessed.” “No truer words were ever expressed. From the moment that Mary came Before the eyes of the world, when first she announced the ■ great tidings to her cousin, Eliza- j both, until this present moment, na- ] tion after nation has joined in the great praise and veneration of the humble maid of Nazareth. “Is it. necessary for me to re count the glories that Mary now en joys in heaven? Mary has long since closed her eyes to the troubles and sorrows of the worK and 1 opened them to the vision of her I God and her S*n. Exalted above the •; choirs of Angels, splendid in sanc- 1 tity, dazzling in beauty, exalted in | power. “What manner of man and Chris tian is he that would take away from her the honor that the omnipo tent and omniscient God has placed ! upon her. Ye Christians answer me this: Is Christ God? Is He that came upon the earth 1,900 years ago, saw and lived this vale of tears, suf fered and died an ignominious death on the cross, triumphed over death and now follows His divinely instituted harbinger of truth—is He I the God that you worship? If not, then why do you worship Him? If j yes, then why do you not honor His Mother, she who gave your God to you, that God of love who wanted f to suffer as you suffer, do as you do, live as you live and be forev ermore the type for you to follow if you wish for happiness in this life and everlasting joy in the world to come? j ‘‘Yet it is entirely to her preroga- ! ive of Motherhood that Mary owes her blessedness. It is especially due to her correspondence with grace. Christ Himself has told us when the woman called from the crowd— ‘Blessed is the womb that bore Thee’—‘yea rather,’ says Christ, ‘blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.’. ‘Mary kept all these words in her heart pondering over them.’ When the world was go ing its way of folly, when Herod ruled with a bloody hand, when soul after soul was perishing for the want of a Saviour, that future mother of ours was building for herself a man- i sion in heaven. Mary heard the di vine call and her momentous “fiat” rang out and its echo has not and will not cease. ‘Be it done unto me according to thy word.’ “Mary's destiny is a human des tiny. She reached it. in a human ; way. She laid the foundation of her heavenly mansion when she worked i about the temple at Jerusalem. She 1 reared its pillars, when with faith, purity and obedience to the will of God, unequaled in time, she received the message of the.angel. This ‘tern- pie was adorned wiith ivory and gold when the Bethlehem, Egypt and Naz areth, she became the model of the ' Christian family. “To you, dear children, let me say that you owe much to our Blessed Mother in heaven. ’ Do you remem ber how at Christmas you came and saw there in the crib a statue of the , prettiest babe that ever was horn? . t Do you remember how His little hands were held up as if He was ask ing you to take Him and hold Him? You loved that little Babe and I am sure you wish that He would have j spoken to you and said as He said later, ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me.’ Well, Mary gave Him to you. If she had not wished to he His mother we would never have had the little Infant Jesus. That is why you have come here today to sing to her and tell her how thankful you are for the Divine Infant. position in heaven so exalted, that it appears almost unattainable ? Not at all. Be human. “Today is a day set aside to honor one, whose office was like unto Mary, whose joys and sorrows are linked up with the success or fail ure of those she brought into this wor d, whose crown in the world hereafter is all that she can be as sured of iV>r her life on earth is but care and anxiety, silent tears whose flow is stopped but seldom, hut oh how easily for there is no heart more appreciative of the smallest of kind nesses than the heart of a mother “My children, what is there that your dear mother has not done for you? Her tears and her blood were shed for you even before you were born. She knew what she had to suffer for you and as she looked down through the years, strange fears brought the first wrinkle to her fair brow. She saw the many, many times that you would perhaps he sick and in pain, the many things that you would want and she could give you. Yet braving it all she brought you into the world and nev er once has she ceased to care for you. ‘Many things too numerous to mention has she done for you and now how have you repaid her? You younger children, have you been obedient at all times? When moth er asked you to do something did yon do it and do it promptly? Did you sometimes take your time and try to answer hack? O shame on any girl or boy that would do such a thing. Then you young men and women! How many of you have thrown off the motherly influence of her that now suffers in silence at your neglect? Yes, she is old, her ways and her sayings are not the gay and flipping words of modern wisdom but place them side by side with the wisdom of youth of today and what you have you? Many have found to their late sorrow that the wisdom of mother far cvcelled theirs. “How many of you have noticed the tears that at times flowed for you because of the lack of courtesy, much less devotion that you have shown her? Have you ever tried to kiss your mother good night and good morning or have you been awav so late that mother fell asleep while waiting for you and you were so late in the morning that you had no time ere you copld get to your work Which of you have tried to learn the things that her heart cries for and have tried to procure them for her? No greater want has she than appreciation for what she has done for you—a little mark of respect once in a while shown to her. How many of you have tried to look into the eyes of your mother and see there whether you have succeeded or failed? In them you will find like in a highly polished mirror a reflec tion of your success and your fail ure, brightened by her love, soften ed by her devotion. “Ah, mothers, at times your lot is hard. Take courage today from the mother of all. No reward is too great for you. You would try to give your all as she did for your own—God asked her for her greatest treasure. He may not ask you to give your treasure to Him but He does ask that you do all that you can for them. You children, if you wish to honor your mother Mary in heaven the first honor your mother on earth. As long as she draws a breath of God’s air she is still your mother and to her you owe what you are.” “Mary in her day was but a poor Jewish maiden, lowly and retiring. Later in life she was a young wom an thrust aside when she and her husband asked for shelter; she later ■ received the stigma of the mother of a malefactor. Porcelain pictures are rouglr, but when held in the light reveal beautiful scenes and pictures. Faith tells us of the heavenly visit ations, bliss of Mary. Human life loo is rough but when enlightened » by faith becomes divine, “An obedient child, a truthful j child will have an angel near her at all times. Just as He said unto Mary He will say to you, ‘Hail, full of grace.’ The .youth, boy or girl, who lives a pure life, is but another cave at Bethlehem wherein Christ is born; the Christian family, sensible j of its obligations is hut another house at Nazareth. In all these cases ’ we have the guiding influence of God and a human example in Mary. We see that enlightened by faith Mary’s f destiny is the same as ours. She attained her dignity as wc will at- I; tain it by correspondence with the grace of God. “We honor her, we venerate her, j because God honored her. Wc pro claim her glory, we sing her praises. But are these to come from the lips alone? As our hearts in back of them? Shall this be the end of it all- that we during this hour—we, in a moment of intense excitement will make ail kinds of resolutions and then when calm fail to carry them out? Mary seems to be far off from us. Her dignity is so high, her Ruins of Spacious Catholic Buildings in Greenland Several Danish archaeologists delv ing in the ruins of the ancient cathe dral of Gardar, the center of Catholic life in Greenland from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, have made some very interesting discoveries. In the course of four months they un covered the foundations of the en tire church and part of an adjacent house. It was found that the epis copal residence was a mass of build ings covering about 3% acres. From the size of these buildings it may be deduced that the time at which they were built was a very flourish ing period. The church was built of blocks of red standstonc, with a spacious choir and many chapels. In one of the latter were found the remains of a bishop, well preserved. Lying be side him was a crozier wrought of whale teeth. A bishop's gold ring encircled one of the fingers. The bishop was of tall and powerful sta tue. From the objects associated with the remains, the tomb is be lieved to date from 1209. It is sup posed that the remains are those either of Bishop Sverrcsfostre, who governed the church from 1187 to 1209, or of a contemporary prelate, Bishop Anders Luneson. The Question Box By Rev. Bernard X. O’Reilly Q. Do all the lost souls suffer the same penalty regardless of their sins? A. The Catholic doctrine is stated in the decree of the Council of Florence: “The souls of those who depart in mortal sin or only in orig inal sin, go down immediately into hell, to be visited, however, with unequal punishments.” Q. Is a priest allowed to say mass for a person who commits suicide? A. No one can say absolutely that a person who takes his own life is lost. He may have been insane at the time; he may not have been suf ficiently instructed in religious mat ters to be morally responsible or he may have repented after the fatal act. Mass may be offered private ly and hypothetic-ally for any soul. Where there is reasonable doubt of the moral responsibility o£. a suicide mass may be offered publicly for the repose of Ids soul. If it is quite certain that the suicide was mor ally responsible the priest will of fer mass privately and hypotheti cally for him. Q. Is there any sin which can not be forgiven? A. In the ordinary sense of the word there is no such tiling as an unpardonable sin. The sin against the Holy Ghost which our Lord said should not he forgiven in this life or in the next, means the absolute and final rejection of the grace of God. No man can be converted without contrition and contrition comes from God’s grace. Q. Under what conditions may a suicide be buried from the Church? A. If a person in possession of his faculties diliberately committed suicide he would be refused Chris- tion burial. Since there is always a doubt in such a matter pastors refer the case to the bishop and usually are guided by the verdict of legal authority. We believe that the vast majority of suicides are not in their right mind. The Church will always exercise charity and give the benefit of the doubt. Q. If the laws of nature are im mutable how can there be a mira cle? A. It is indeed true that nature works according to certain fixed, or as they are some times called, im mutable laws. These laws unlike the truths of mathematics are not intrinsically or absolutely neces sary. Experience tells us that, as a rule, they are unchanging, but neither reason nor experience as serts that the omnipotent, free God, can not intervene at will to prevent their operation. God in creating the world did not subject Himself to the laws of His creation. A mira cle, however, does not destroy any law or even suspend its working, hut merely in a particular instance supposes the intervention of God to prevent a certain law from having its ordinary effect. There is no danger of the laws of nature being overthrown, or science disturbed in the least; for miracles are rare oc currences, which simply emphasize the more the ordinary course of naiure. Were it not for the uni formity of nature’s laws, one never could he certain of a miracle, it is strange that one should grant that man can interfere with the work ing of nature’s laws, as for exam ple, overcome the law of gravita tion by holding a stone in his hand, and yet deny that the infinitely free God can set above and beyortd the laws of His own framing. 1 Q. What is the reason that a good Catholic can not belong to. the Masonic lodge? A. The Church condemns Free masonry because it is a sect, with a code of belief, ritual ,and ceremo nies, standing for mere naturalism in religion and for a morality founded on merely human motives. The Freemasons of Europe have claimed Freemasonry as tlie relig ion of nature. The Catholic Church is the supernatural religion of Jesus Christ and therefore one can not be a Mason and a Catholic at the same time. The Masonic Review says: “The God of Freemasonry is Nature. There is no need of priv ileged agents making a trade of their pretended mediation.” It again says: “Freemasonry is pro gress under every form, in every branch of human activity. It teaches us that there is only one religion, one true and therefore nat ural religion, the worship of hu manity. God is only the product of a generous but erroneous Concep tion of humanity.” Speaking of the Freemasons of Continental Europe, we maq cite the pledge made by them in Naples which called for “the prompt and radical abolition of Catholicity, and by every means to procure its utter destruction.” We do not class the Masons of the United States in the same category. For the most part they' are tolerant and broad-minded and have the respect for every man’s conscien tious religious beliefs and practices. Many further reasons might be given which would justify the con demnation of Freemasonry but xvbat we have given is sufficient for one who believes in a supernatural re ligion. Catholics in American History James Hay, Jr., in Feature Article in Asheville, N.^ 0., Citizen, Recalls That “the Most Notorious Catholic Baiter of His Time’’ Was the Traitor Benedict Arnold Wliat kind of southerners are these, boasting a religious bigotry so vicious that it denies the right of a Catholic to bold high public ■ office in the United States? Whoever they may be, they are an swered by what the Catholic has done for America, and with peculiar effectiveness by what the southern Catholic lias done for the south and tile nation. Observe the long roll of honor. The first man to sign tile Decla ration of Independence was a south ern Catholic. Religious freedom was first en forced as a policy in an American colony, and a southern colony at that, by a southerner wtyo was a Catholic. Religious freedom was not a fact in North Carolina until William Gas ton in 1835 put the necessary bill thror-b the state legislature. Gas ton \v„s a Catholic, statesman, jurist and ideal citizen, one of the heroes of Tarheel history. The southerner. George Washing ton, made the Catholic Stephen Moy- lan his first muster-master general (the rank now designated aii u t an t" general) with the job of forming the continental army. The southern Catholic, Lieuten ant-Colonel John Fitzgerald, was Washington’s aide-de-camp and sec retary. And, as a Catholic assem bled the revolutionary army, anoth er, Captain John Barry, was made commander of the first revolution ary battleship and later headed the whole continental navy. Among the great soldiers who, ac tuated only by their love of liberty, came over from Europe to help the colonies win them independence were such men as Rochambcau, Count Pulaski, Anselme and De Fermoy. They were Catholics. But "the time arrived when the southern Catholics had to side with the south or the north. They fought, bled and died for the south. Their priests took the field as Confeder ate chaplains. Their sisters nursed our wounded. No more dashing and valiant of ficer ever rode beneath the Stars and Bars than General Beauregard, the Louisiana Catholic, who flashed his sword at Sumter and proved his bril liant heroism at Shiloh, Drury’s Bluff and Petersburg, or Pat Cle burne, who died leading his army in a gallant charge. No individual feat of arms for the Confederacy eclipsed that of the Catholic Major “Dick” Dowling who, with forty-two men, held the fort at Sabine Pass against a fed eral fleet numbering 15(51)0 soldiers. Longstreet died a Catholic. Among the southern generals who fed mor tally wounded at the head of their men or fought through tile war were the Catholic, Hardee, Branch, Ad ams Anderson, Jenkins, Hardeman, Cabell and others. All regiments and battalions, comprised of Cathol ics entirely, were decimated by northern shot and shell. When the Confederate .“Alabama” made her famous cruise beginning at the Azores in 1862 and ending with her defeat off the coast of France it 1864, after having captur ed or destroyed sixty-nine vessels, she was commanded by the officer who, previous to taking that assign ment, liad captured eighteen north ern ships. That scourge of the seas and terror of the north was the Catholic, Raphael Semmes. The three great poets of the Con federacy were southern Catholics: Randall, who wrote “Maryland. My Maryland;” Father Tabb and Fath er Ryan, author of “The Conquered Banner” and “The Sword of Lee.” Another Catholic wrote the music of ‘Dixie,” and another “The Bonnie Bine Flag.” When Jefferson Davis was put on trial, a Catholic lawyer, Charles O’Connor the leader of the American bar of that day, scorning an insane northern prejudice and calumniation, was his chief .counsel and his bonds man with Horace Greeley. One of the associate defense counsel was another Catholic, and they fought the fierce court battle as volunteers who would accept no fee. As southern Catholics were in the forefront of all our preceding wars, they held similar posts in the World War. The Georgia Catholic, Ad miral Benson, as chief of naval op erations, headed the sea forces. The first A. E. F. officer to die on the field and the last to fall in battle were Catholics. Two of the ablest of the eleven chief justices of the United States, final arbiters of the meaning of the laws by which we live, were Taney and White, both southern Catholics, two of the many who have served the south—six in North Carolina— as judges. The most notorious Catholic bait er of his time was the liar and trait or, Benedict Arnold. The political party that had an anti-Catholic platform was the Know-Nothings of brief duration, who were first beaten and started to oblivion by the vot ers of a southern state. Southerners put political proscrip tion upon the Catholics? If they do, they are ignorant of their own his tory and ignorant too, of their own greatness The Catholic vision in states manship, their wisdom on the. bench, their valor in battle, their leadership in affairs the songs they have sung and the deaths -they have died are part and parcel of all that glory and guidance which we so proudly des cribe in the words, “The Southern Tradition.” Baptist Paper Commends Catholic Defense Work (From the Baptist Advance, Little Rock.) Our readers know something about the Oregon school legislation of a few years ago which proposed to send all students in the grades to attend state schools and which was directed specially against the Paro chial schools o! the Catholics. Few people have any idea of the amount of money and work that was ex pended by the Catholics in carrying on their campaign against this leg islation. This was done by the printing and distribution of large quantities of literature, by paid ad vertisements in the newspapers, by personal correspondence, arid by public lectures and the radio. For more than three years they carried paid articles and advertisements in papers which reached from 100,000 to 200,000 subscribers. Our own no tion is that the legislation was ut terly unjustifiable, and we call at tention to this matter only to show how the Catholics throw themselves into the work of promoting their enterprises and institutions. Father Moynihan Rev. P. A. Ryan, S. J.., in the Spring Hill Magnifcat The passing of Father Moynihan deprives Spring Hill College of a kindly presence. Father Moynihan was an authentic gentleman and one of parts. As Vice-President and President of the College, and later Master of Novices and Provincial ot the New Orleans Province, he left the impression of a man indeflecti- bly faithful to the trusts given into his keeping. His life had the se renity which comes to one who walks always in the presence of God. Possessing none of those ob trusive habits, none of that desire for personal recognition, so marked a characteristic of his time, he was known intimately only to a few, but by these as a gracious, attractive and full-sized personality. May his soul rest in peace. Mobs Undoing Constructive Work in State Editor Says (From the Valdosta, Ga., Times) It is a deplorable fact that while there are many enterprising spirits in Georgia who are giving their life blood their time and their labors, to build up the State of Georgia, to add to values in the State and to make the people happy and pros perous there is another clement that seems to be so obsessed with a dev- i'ish spirit that they do not care what may happen to their state or its people. Ail over the country the news papers and magazines are comment ing upon conditions which are ex isting in several counties in Geor gia, where hooded gangs have been taking the law in their own hands and committing outrages of the worst sort. In one case a minister of the Gospel was taken from a church and given a flogging. The State hSs constitucd authorities and machinery for handling all kinds of offenses and if any man has com mitted a crime lie is amenable to the law and can he easily reached. Every man has a right to be given a fair trial, to look in the faces of those who accuse him and of those who try him. Otlr forefathers fought for this sacred right and when this right is taken from the people, they become wearers of yokes that will be more galling to them than the yoke which is put upon the neck of dumb driven cattle. GILBERT CHESTERTON SAYS: A convinced Catholic is easily the most hard-headed and logical per son walking about the world today. But this old slander, of a slimy sen timentalism in all we say arid do, is terribly perpetuated by this mere muddle about words. We are still supposed to have a silly sort of de votion, while we really have a most sensible -sort, merely because we have taken a foreign phrase and translated it wrong; instead of leaving it in Latin for those who can read Latin or trusting it in Eng lish to people who can write Enfi« lish.