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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NOVEMBER 10, 1928
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ af the Catholic Laymen’a Aaaoclation of
Gcorria.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service and of the Catholic Pfeas
Association of the United States and Canada. ___
Published semi-monthly by the Publicity Departmentwith
the Approbation of the Rt. Rev. Bishops of Raleish, Charles
ton, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and Natchez.
1409 I-am&r Building „ „ v Aueosta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
6. T. Mattingly. Walton. Building Atlanta, ca.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1928-1929
P. H. RICE, K.C.S.G., Augusta .......... . ■ • • President
COL. P. H. CALLAHAN, K.S.G., Louisville. Ky.. _
ADMIRAL WM. S. BENSON, K C.S.G., Washington, D. L,..
BARTLEY J. DOYLE, ’ Honorary' Vice-Pr'esWenU
I. J.’hAVERTY, Atlanta First Vice-President
J. B. McCALI.UM. Atlanta
THOMAS S. GRAY. Augusta nSector
RICHARD REID. Augusta ■ • • • £ u ,vV£tv Director
MISS CECII.E C. FERRY, Augusta Asst. Publicity Dirccto
Vol. IX. NOVEMBER 10, 1928 * No. 21
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921. at V>e Povt
Office at Augusta, Ga„ under Act of March 18<9.
for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Secti.J
1103, Act of October 3, 1917. authorixed September 1. 1921.
The 1928 Convention—and 1929
We dislike to say that the 1928 convention of the
Catholic Layauen’s Association of Georgia was the
best in the twelve years of the organization’s existence.
That sounds so trite. But what is one to say when
it is the simple truth?
In point' of numbers, in enthusiasm, in everything
that goes to make ■ a convention a success, the 1928
been disheartening to millions of fair-minded people
of all shades of religious and political opinion.
Yet the situation has its encouraging side. The
day after the election the bitterness and hard feeling
of campaign days will begin to abate. Those van
quished on the field of political battle will accept the
result. The defeated candidate will congratulate the
wniner, and his followers, more reluctant perhaps,
will follow his example in accepting the verdict in
sportsmanlike fashion. Not many generations ago,
however, and even today in some parts of the work
such a campaign as is now raging in this country
would be settled with bullets, not ballots.
CUI BONO?
The Republic is over a century and a half old.
There has not been a year in its history in which
the Catholic Church has not made progress; there
has not been' a day in which it has not flourished
in the atmosphere of American institutions. Its for
ward march in the United States since the signing
of the declaration has been at least as pronounced
as in any other country in the world, despite the
fact that Catholics have been the rulers of many an
other country and our chief executives have been
Protestants.
Again, there is no country in the world where
Catholics have been persecuted more than in Ireland.
Even the persecution the Church is undergoing in
Mexico today is outclassed in a hundred ways by
the fury of the hatred that inspired Cromwell’s de
convention surpassed all previous ones. Yet all
previous gatherings share in its glory for they were
rungs in the ladder which lifted this year’s gathering
to the eminence it achieved.
The first factor was the presence and inspiration
of Bishop Keyes. In the same class was the memorable
address of General Malone, one reminiscent of Sena
tor Walsh’s masterful oration at Macon in 1927. The
solmen High Mass which opened the convention, the
numbers which attended, the perfect weather after a
few threatening moments in the morning, the hospi
tality of the people of Augusta and other circumstances
united to make a perfect occasion.
But there was an overtone of zeal, enthusiasm and
confidence that dominated the gathering. The Associa
tion had passed through the most active and, in many
ways, the most trying in its history. There has been
more anti-Catholic agitation in Georgia during the
past six months than in perhaps any previous six
years. The Laymen’s Association was prepared for it.
For twelve years it had been scattering the seed of
fact throughout Georgia; the crop of good will sprout
ing from that seed choked out much of cockle of
hatred germinating from the seeds of misrepresenta
tion.
But Georgia is still covered with a mantle of
dormant seed of hatred. If allowed to grow to the
harvest it will cover the state with a crop of bigotry
which will do untold harm not only to Catholics, but
to the development of Georgia. The Catholic Lay
men’s Association of Georgia could not prevent the
sowing; it can prevent th harvest.
When the recent wave of prejudice broke over
the United States, it found the Catholics of the coun
try utterly unprepared to combat it, according to
Michael Williams, the distinguished editor of The
Comomnweal. He makes an exception in the case of
Georgia. In many places where an effort was made
to meet the anti-Catholic movement, organization work
had to he ddne, and when that was effected, and at
enormous cost, it was too late. The Catholics- of
Georgia were ready; they met the issue promptly and
effectively. When the agitation dies down, they will
still continue their efforts, knowing how much more
effective such efforts are in times of peace. When an
other anti-Catholic wave sweeps the country, and we
may expect them at recurring intervals, they will not
only be equipped to meet them, but the work they
have done in presenting facts and making friends in
limes when reason rather than prejudice influences
thought will, as in the present trouble, provide them
with allies to aid them in defending the cause of good
will and friendliness. To this task the Catholic Lay
men’s Association of Georgia pledges its efforts, and
with the assistance of the loyal hand now responsible,
for the work and with that of others we hope will
join us, the Laymen’s Association will he even more
successful in the future than in the past in, its efforts
“to hrind about a friendlier feeling among Georgians
irrespective of creed.?
The Political Campaign
Before The Bulletin again appears, the sovereign
people of these United States will have spoken and
•elected a ruler to preside over the destinies of the
nation for the next four years.
Despite the efforts of the candidates for the
highest office within the gift of the American people
to maintain the campaign on a high plane, the in
jection of bigotry into it has made it one of the
hlUcrest on record. The intolerance engendered has
termination to send the Catholics of Ireland “to hell
or Connaught,” or to martyrs’ graves by death either
by the sword or starvation. There is perhaps no
country on the face of the earth where Catholics have
'had less civil power in proportion to their numbers
than the Irish people since Henry VIII, and yet there
is no place under the sun where the faith of Catholics
is stronger than in this island for centuries under
Protestant rule.
The Catholic Church, therefore, docs not need the
civil power to assist it in its mission to men. It seeks
only justice, and even where justice is denied it, in
justice is powerless to fcrush it or even to prevent
its steady progress. It avoids seeking political power
in our country as a matter of principle; even if it
were only a policy, and it were possible for the
Catohlic Church to gain control of the government
of the United States despite the 90,000,000 non-Catholics
in this country, how foolish even from a standpoint
of worldly wisdom it would he to do so, ‘-especially
in view of the history of the Republic which reflects
the desire of the people of the nation for a political
change of upheaval periodically. A political party
swept into office by a majority in one election is
sometimes swept out in the next. Considering for a
moment the impossible suggestion that the Catholic
Church did desire and did secure in this nation what
it has not achieved or tried to achieve in Catholic
countries, political domination, how could it, with its
20,000,000 adherents out of 110,000,000 people, hope to
retain a power which the Republican and Democratic
parties have been unable to retain for more than
a generation despite the fact that these parties have
secured their power at various times by the will of the
majority of the voters and of the people of the
nation?
As citizens Catholics have their varying preferences,
in the matter of presidential candidates, but the
Catholic Church is indifferent about the, result of
the election. As this is being written wc do not know
who will be the next president of the United States.
But wc do know that the Catholic Church has taken
no part in the campaign, officially or unofficially.
Despite the frequent and even, in some quarters, con
tinuous assertion that the Catholic Church is engaged
in politics, we have not heard of a single Bishop op
posing one candidate or urging the election of an-
otchr. There are 25,000 priests in the United States.
In an aggregation of 25,000 people drawn from any
class, there are many different types. Yet wc have
not heard of one of these 25,000 priests preaching
politics from his pulpit, cither expressedly or under
the guise of a moral issue.
A PLEA FOR PEACE.
Early in the campaign The Bulletin urged its readers
to “keep cool.” Catholics and non-Catholics must
continue to live here as neighbors after the election,
it said; they should continue to live as friends. They
should not allow differences of political opinion to
inflict wounds which will still be festering long after
their causes are forgotten. The supporters of The
Bulletin hardly needed that advice; it was the spirit of
friendliness and good will characteristic of them that
gave birth to the Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia and this publication. They do not fall into
the error of regarding difference of opinion as a
presonal affront to them. They do not seek to at
tribute to people motives which those people disclaim.
And when prejudice and bigotry unmistakably appear
they, if they are true to their principles, exercise
toward them the spirit of Christian charity.
DIXIE MUSINGS— Th ‘ Amual
Laymen s Convention
When The Bulletin said that Ma
jor General Paul B. Malone, U. S. A.,
was the silver-tongued orator of the
United States Army, it took in en
tirely too little territory and it was
too conservative in its reference to
precious meiais. At the Augusta
convention the General was golden-
throated; and the jewels of thought
that flowed through his lips were as
rich as their source. One of Augus
ta’s most prominent citizens, whose
eloquence is such that he is drafted
to welcome visiting celebrities to
the city, whether they be presidents
or a former Secretary of the navy,
said that General Malone’s Augusta
address was the finest he had ever
heard. Certainly it was the greatest
oration we have ever heard in Au
gusta, and our experience embraces
only one or two elsewhere that de
serve to he classed with. it.
General Malone’s address was the
high light in the secular part ol the
program. His subject was Ameri
canism. His expression of it was
striking, vivid. Few who heard will
forget the picture he drew of the
battle field at Santiago, of the death
and desolation there, of the feeling
of abandonment and despair that
weighed down the very atmosphere.
Then out of the sacrifice and suf
fering and death he described the
rising of a new star in the constel
lation of nations, Cuba, a new, free
government, the fruit of American
principles. Thus did General Ma
lone convey to his hearers a lasting
impression of what is meant bj
Americanism.
General Malone’s address is refer
red to elsewhere in this issue. Un
fortunately it was not available in
manuscript form. Perhaps it will be
available for publication at a future
date. He referred to the part that
Catholics played in the World War.
In the army men Stand on their own
feet, he said. In the front line
trencf .-s no one questioned the re
ligion of a man who filled a hole
in the ranks. Fort' 1 per cent of some
of the units at the front are com
posed of Catholics, lie declared. In
condensing the General’s remarks as
written for publication he was made
to say that forty per cent of all the
forces in the World War were Cath
olic. That was not his statement
His apostrophe to the flag to which
he said lie swore allegiance as a ca
det, as an officer in advancing grades
in the army and as a Fourth Degree
Knight of Columbus aroused his
hearers, Catholic and non-Catholic,
to a pitch of enthusiasm which ex
pressed itself in rafter-raising ‘ap
plause.
ening prayer hy Bishop Keyes and
the appointing of committees was
devoted to the reports of the pres
ident, treasurer and publicity com
mittee. The treasurer’s report indi
cated that increased demands were
made on its resources during the
year because of the current agita
tion. The reports of the president
and publicity director and the stir
ring remarks of Mr. Spalding, Mr.
Hatcher, Mr. Callaghan, Mrs. Kelly
and Mr. Haverty indicated that the
situation is such that the coming
year will resemble the past one as
far as finances are concerned. Con
siderable seed of hatred was sown
during the year. The Association
could not prevent its sowing. It
can, with the asssitance of its mcin-
tiers, prevent the harvest. It needs
the fullest possible assistance from
its present members and in addi
tion other members to help this loy
al little band.
The dinner was a revelation. It
was called a barbecue, and it was a
barbecue, a Richmond County one.
To most people a barbecue means
rough food served in bulk and after
the manner of a buffet lunch. This
was delightfully prepared food, with
the variety of a course dinner, serv
ed like a meal at an exclusive sea
side resort. Clem Castleberry, an
Augusta merchant, was its managing
director; Dr. John E. Marriott was
the chairman of I he general com
mittee. Mr. Castleberry has put on
’cues for presidents and a chief jus
tice of the United States; if they
fared as well as the Birhop, General
and nearly six hundred other guests
Ue adedd to his list October 28, they
were fortunate indeed. The commit
tee prepared for the largest conven
tion in history; a twenty-five per
cent increase would be a healthy
growth, considering the fine size of
previous affairs of this kind, it
thought. Its optimistic, far-sighted
policy was not optimistic and far
sighted enough. Although about 450
were seated, a second table was nec
essary for many more. The home
folks insisted on the visitors being
served first. The whole six hundred
were dined, perhaps the largest din
ner or banquet of a Catholic organ
ization ever held in the South. And
there was plenty of food. There were
no talks at the dinner. Another
pleasant feature was the assistance
rendered by the young lady mem
bers of the Marjos and by local
young men, who served at the ta
bles.
The convention worked; until din
ner was ready, and finished Us bus-
iness in Uic morning, the reports of
The Cathofic Laymen’s Association 'h e nominating committee and the
of Georgia meets in general conven- committee on resolutions included.
tion once a year. The entire time of
the convention from flic beginning of
the convention Mass until the final
prayer in the afternoon is ordinar-
Mr. Haverty, first vice president, was
in the chair in the afternoon when
the convention reconvened; the gav
el fell on the appointed hour of 3:30,
ily less than eight hours. The con- something unusual for conventions
vention Mass occupies about an hour [of any organisation. He introduced
and a half of tins time. This ex- Bishop Keyes, who refused to say
presses more than^oluinns of print; JRore than a few words, ljut in those
the spirit of the Laymen's Associa-j‘ c w he packed volumes of encour-
tion. Gathered around the altar, the iogenient.to the Laymen’s Associa-
convention draws spiritual strength {Don. Ihcy arc referred to else-
" "" ' ■' where in this issue. Bishop Keyes
is the personification of the friend
ly, Christian, charitable spirit of the
Laymen’s Association. While it con
forms to his spirit of good will it
cannot go wrong.
for the new year. This year the
convention was honored by being
opened with a Solemn High Mass at
St. Patrick’s Church, with our Bish
op presidin'* In his sermon, Father
Schonbardt. pastor of St. Patrick’s
pointed out the appropriateness of
the convention’s being held on the
Feast of Christ the King, dedicated
as it is to the task of spreading the
sweet spirit of Christian charity
through the state. Our Divine Lore!
commanded His followers to love
their neighbors. In the natural or
der of things people cannot hate
those who love them. The love that
the Catholics of Georgia have for
their neighbors cannot fail to bring
a reaction in their neighbors, inspir
ed as it is by the more effective su
pernatural otive.
After the Mass the delegates and
visitors were transported to the
convention meeting place four miles
from Augusta: Frank J. Dolan was
commander of the fleet of automo
biles that did the honors. The con
vention hall was a summer resort.
The meeting was held in a spacious
hall on the second floor; the dinner
was served below. Thus the con
vention was held together and delays
between sessions reduced to a min
imum.
About seventy Savannah delegates
traveled 134 miles to Augusta for
the convention; this delegation was
the largest. The Atlanta contingent,
which had a journqy of 172 miles
each way, was next in number, with
Macon, over 125 miles from Augusta,
third. Milledgeville, nearly ninety
miles from the convention city, car
ried off the honors on a proportion
ate basis; fourteen delegates, includ
ing a representative from most of the
families in the little congregation in
Baldwin County, attended the meet
ing. The congregations at Rome and
Brunswick both were represented.
Rome is 347.6 miles from Brunswick.
Rome is a neighbor of Chattanoo
ga in Tennessee and Brunswick of
Jacksonville in Florida, 501.9 miles
in South Atlantic breezes and soft
winds from the Gulf of Mexico in the
winter time when snow covers the
North Georgia mountains around
Rome. The Laymen’s convention is
a common point of contact.
The morning session after the op-
Of General Malone's address we
have spoken before. Further com
ment on it would be equally inade
quate to describe its eloquent effec
tiveness. It was as brilliant as the
golden .mellow autumn convention
day. The weather, after a few
threatening moments in the morn
ing for which it speedily repented
and made amends, was as perfect as
tlic other details of the meeting. In
the history of the Laymen’s Associa
tion there never was a more enthu
siastic, inspiring meeting. Conven
tions arc, however, not an end hut a
means to an end. The end is re
newed activity for the year. That on
this foundation a superstructure of an
unparalleled year’s work “to bring
about a friendlier feeling among
Georgians irrespective of creed” will
be reared wc do not doubt.
There was but one unhappy note
connected with the convention, and
it was an aftermath. Returning
home by automobile to Macon the
night ot the convention, the car
bearing Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Callag
han, left the road between Louis
ville and Macon, plunged down an
embankment and turned over, bruis
ing Mrs. Callaghan and breaking Mr.
Callaghan’s arm in two places. They
were taken to Milledgeville where
members of the Milledgeville branch
had them cared for; after a couple
of days in the hospital they were
able to be removed home. Mr. Cal
laghan is president of the Macon
branch and a member of the state
finance committee: he is one of the
most active members in the state
and one of the members of the Ma
con branch most responsible for its
repeated 100 per cent showing. The
Laymen’s Association sympathizes
with him and his family on their
misfortune and wishes them
Jacksonville in Florida, &U1.9 miles, misioriune ann wisnes tnem a
from Chattanooga. Brunswick basks'^peedy recovery. It was a source
i Allnnlia Lmavao Arts] ervft rtf’ (fmO f nlftOClIPA in flin TnomltAar
of great pleasure to the members of
the Association to welcome another
member of the Macon branch res-
ponisble for its fine showing, Miss
Amelia Horne, who has been ser
iously ill, but who is again on the
ring line for the Laymens Associa
tion.