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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC. LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
APRIL, 13, 1929
THE BULLETIN
Tile Official Or can of the Catholic Lajmcn'i Association of
Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Edijbr.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service and of the Catholic Fi'ess
Association of the United States and Canada.
Published semi-monthly by the Publicity Department with
the Approbation of the Rt. Rev. Bishops of Raleigh, Charles
ton, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and Natchez.
1409 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
6. T. Mattingly. Walton, Building Atlanta, Ga.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1928-1929
P. II. RICE, K.C.S.C., Augusta President
*)OL. P. II. CALLAHAN, K.S.G., Louisville, Ky„
ADMIRAL WM. S. BENSON, K.C.S.G., Washington, D. C.,..
BARTLEY J. DOYLE, Philadelphia • • • • ••
Honorary Vice-Presidents
;}. J.' ilAVERTY, Atlanta" First Vice-President
B. MeCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
rmOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer
RICHARD REID. Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILE C. FERRY, Augusta Asst. Publicity Director
Church in the future. It puts every other Catholic
in the same position.
What are Americans going to do about it? The
majority of Americans, all but a comparative hand
ful, are honest and, when they are convinced of the
facts, fair. They are not going to get excited about
the insinuations of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate
and its left-handed sanction of the vicious alleged
“oath” of the Knights of Columbus with its blood
curdling and monstrously inhuman curses. Nor are
they going to be misled by cries of “intimidation” and
“inquisition” w’hen Catholics take advantage of the
orderly processes of the law to secure redress for past
and enjoin future libels of a nature intended to make
them an outcast people in the land which they dis
covered, for whose liberty they have shed their blood
on every battlefield in its history, and which is as
much part of them and they of it as any other group
of citizens within its glorious borders.
Tol. X.
APRIL, 13, 1929
No. 7
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 18,9. Accepted
for mailing at special rate of postage provided for m Section
1103, Act of October S, 1917, authorized September 1, 19J1,
What Will Americans Do?
A minister in California was tried recently for
circulation of the fake “oath” of the Knights of Col
umbus. The Wesleyan Christian Advocate of Atlanta,
an official Metbodict paper, comments on it in this
fashion:
"But here are facts not to be questioned: An Am
erican citizen quotes from the Congressional Record
about a given organization; he disavows knowledge
as to the accuracy of the quotation; he declares the
purpose for which the quotation was made—to prove
from history that the oath is in accord with previous
Catholic procedure and since Catholicism does not
change—at least so it claims—to indicate what might
be feared for the future; a Catholic presumably act
ing for the organization does not meet the question
of fact raised by the proof of the contrary, but rushes
Into court to silence such criticism in the present and
to intimidate it in the future. What are Americans
going to do about it? They are not to blame for the
unsavory conduct of this Church in the past and for
the logical prospect of a repetition of such distardly
behaviour in the future. Are they going to be intimi
dated into silence? Is Rome to be allowed to set up
the Inquisition on their free soil? Just exactly now
what are they going to do about it?”
The editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate
ought to know that the fake “oath of the Knights
of Columbus was read into the Congresisonal Record
in order to brand it a forgery. He ought to know
that a Congresisonal committee branded it a forgery.
He ought to know that a committee of Masons in Cali
fornia after an extended investigation branded it a
forgery. He ought to know that the Knights of Col
umbus have repeatedly offered a reward of $25,000
to anyone who can prove that the alleged “oath” is
not a forgery or that Protestants or Masons are re
ferred to directly or indirectly in any of the ritual
work of the Knights of Columbus. He ought to know
that no such oath was ever taken anywhere by Cath
olics, and that by sanctioning such propaganda he is
not hurting the Catholic Church in the least, but he
is giving aid and comfort to the forces of agnosticism
and atheism which rejoice to see those who profess to
be Christians aiding the devilish work of sowing the
seed of suspicion, hatred and distrust in human hearts.
He ought to know that to attempt to draw conclusions
from such a patently false premise is unworthy of
honest men.
What are Americans going to do about it? Three
days before the date of issue of the Wesleyan Chris
tian Advocate which carried this editorial, Marshal
Foch died in France. Marshal Foch Was an honorary
member of the Knights of Columbus, one of three in
the history of the order. Marshal Foch was a Cath
olic, with a faith as humble as his military genius
was exalted. Speaking of him from a New York pul
pit the Sunday after his death, a Methodist minister
said, according to an editorial in the Savannah Press:
“Foch gave the world new evidence of faith in
a future life by his calm and hopeful departure.
Clemenceau, with no faith in God, saw the Germans
sweeping down on Paris, and hopelessly threw up his
hands. Foch, the fervent Catholic, who had time to
spend two hours daily on his knees in prayer, saw
an invisible helper by his side and answered Clemen-
ceau’s despair with the words: ‘They shall not pass.’
During the whole war Foch went daily to church and
spent hours in prayer. That made him a fearless and
wise commander on the battleifeld. It taught him how
to build a character that finally smiled a welcome at
death and he met it with the words: ‘Let’s go.’ ”
Marshal Foch was a man of genius. He was an
ardent partiot, despite an atheistic government’s per
secution of his Church, that of an overwhelming ma
jority of the people of France, and of him personally.
He was Catholic to the core. The Wesleyan Chris
tian Advocate by its insinuations places him in the
position of either being ignorant of the history and
spirit of the Catholic Church or of sanctioning pros
pective “distardly behaviour” on the part of the
Rome and the Rotary
There has been a great deal of discussion in the
press recently on the attitude of the Catholic church
toward the Rotary Club. It was based largely on
rumored decisions of the Vatican which, like most ru
mors, are thoroughly unreliable.
The only authentic information from the Vatican
indicates that only the question of the membership of
priests in Rotary Clubs was under consideration and
it was declared to be “not expedient.” If the move
ment were regarded as wrong in principle, no distinc
tion would be made between membership of laity and
clergy.
It is not generally known outside the Catholic
Church that some religious orders have a rule forbid
ding their priests from being members of such or
ganizations as the Knights of Columbus, not because
they are opposed to the Knights of Columbus but be
cause it is believed that membership in the order might
be a source of distraction.
One Italian paper charges that Rotary is under anti
clerical and atheistic domination. It is possible that
this may be true in some countries nearer to Rome
than our own, hut there appears to be little or no
evidence that this is true in the United States, which
dominates the movement. If it were, Ford tractors
could not drag Catholics into membership, once it be
came known. Yet some of our most exemplary Catholics
are enthusiastic Rotarians.
The Holy Father has honored an
other Bulletin subscriber and Lay
men’s Association friend, Edward V.
Killeen, of Brooklyn, N. Y., by mak
ing him a Knight of St. Gregory.
And, appropriately enough, the hon
or came to Mr. Killeen Holy Thurs
day while he was in Augusta. The
first intimation he had of it came
from a flood of telegrams of con
gratulation. The second was the
announcement in the Brooklyn Tab
let, which The Bulletin relayed to
Mr. Killeen who had come to Au
gusta with Mrs. Killeen and his
daughter for his customary spring
sojourn here.
Mr. and Mrs. Killeen have both
been widely known in charitable and
Catholic hospital work in the Dio
cese of Brooklyn for many years. A
son, Edward V. Killeen, Jr., whose
poems while he was still in his
’teens attracted wide attention, died
in the service during the war. Mr.
Killeen was a schoolmate and has
been a lifelong friend of Cardinal
Hayes. The Bulletin congratulates
Mr. Killeen and his family on the
honor which has come to him, prays
for long life for him to enjoy it, and
trusts that as much as possible of
that life will be spent with his fam
ily in the soft, velvet breezes of the
beautiful Southeast.
Confirmation Schedule of
Bishop Keyes Announced
Savannah, Ga.—The following Con
firmation schedule for Rt. Rev. Mi
chael J. Keyes, D. D., Bishop of Sa
vannah, has been announced through
Rev. Joseph F. Croke, chancellor of
the Diocese:
April 14, St. Francis Xavier
Church, Brunswick.
April 21, Holy Family Church, Co
lumbus.
April 28, St. Benedict’s Church, Sa
vannah.
May 5, Sacred Heart Churclu and
the Church of the Immaculate Con
ception, Augusta.
May 26, Sacred Heart Church and
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Atlan
ta.
The Dixie Press
“We predicted after the nomination
of Governor Smith, and the an
nouncement that he was to be fought
on religious grounds in direct viola
tion of the national Constitution that
while he would probably be defeated
owing to the well known bigotry in
the Southern States, yet he would
have accomplished a great and splen
did work for God and His Church,
a work far more important than the
election to a dozen presidencies,
since Christ died to save souls and
not to elect presidents.” So says the
Sacramento Catholic Herald edito
rially.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Greensboro, (Ga.) Herald-Journal?
Former Secretary of the Navy Jo
sephus Daniels, one of the most
prominent Methodist laymen in
America, made, himself definitely
plain on the subject of religious
liberty when he said: “I believe pro
foundly in civil and religious liberty*
My own state of North Carolina re
jected the constitution for two years
until the other states put the re
ligious liberty clause into it. I deny
the right of any man or court of
law to say to me what I shall be
lieve or how I shall worship my
Maker. The right to deny “any man
or court of law” the prerogative to
prescribe our religion for us is a
right which is over-ridden frequent
ly, even in our fair land of liberty.
These Roman Correspondents
The Catholic countries of Europe are filled with
credulous people, if we are to believe anti-Catholic
publications. The most credulous people in Rome ap
pear to be correspondents of our metropolitan news
papers. Or it may be that they merely believe that
credulity has become a typical American characteris
tic.
A recent contribution of a Roman correspondent to
The Chicago Daily News and its allied publications
(including The Atlanta Journal) reports that high Vati
can officials and even the Pope himself are alarmed
by reports of growing demands on the part of Ameri
can Catholics for larger American representation in the
administration of the affairs of the Church.
“Americans are understood to be seeking positions
and influence in shaping policies proportionate to their
numbers and contributions to Roman funds,” says the
story. What Americans? That seems to be anticipated
as an unfair question, for the account says later on
“When asked for particulars concerning this reported
American movement, Italian ecclesiastics (what Italian
ecclesiastics?) are unable to point to many tangible
evidences (the story mentions not a single one) but
they insist that the challenge is real and that Pope
Pius lately received evidences which caused him con
cern.”
Again: “As understood here, the Americans want
more cardinals, including posts in the Roman congre
gations, where the administrative work of the world
wide church is carried on, and they want Americans
and non-Italians named for a certain number of the
highest Holy See diplomatic posts which traditionally
fall to Italians.”
Posts in the Roman congregations require residence
in Rome for the same reason that cabinet offices de
mand residence in Washington. It requires more of
a stretch of the imagination than we are capable of
to picture any of our cardinals or any American pre
late of the rank from which cardinals ordinarily are
selected seeking a post that would require residence in
Rome for many years and perhaps for life. For unlike
cabinet officers, those occupying congregation posts
are not subject to change every four years.
The truth of the matter seems to be that Roman
correspondents and non-Catholics in general are more
worried about these things than any Catholics with
whom we are acquainted. Again, they view it from
a materialistic standpoint quite as much as the Catho
lic Church were the Standard Oil Company or General
Motors. In publishing the results of their Roman cor
respondents’ elastic imaginations, we believe that our
newspapers are actuated by no different a motive than
when they report on no more substantial stories about
the Court of St. James or from other capitals of
Europe. But people are more credulous 'about the
Vatican.
"We predicted . . . that while he
would probably be defeated owing to
the well known bigotry of the Sou
thern states ...” Governor Smith
carried eight states. Six of them
were in the South, in the very heart
of the South. The states he carried
in this section were the most thor
oughly Southern states in the Union.
Governor Smith received a popular
majority in the Solid South. Of the
two states outside the South car
ried by Governor Smith neither was
within 4,000 miles of Sacramento.
But whatever Editor Connelly thinks
of the South, we think that Califor
nia is all right. And we think that
Mr. Connelly’s editorial, barring his
reference to the South, splits the
mark.
Another California Catholic news
paper, The Tidings, reports that a
“non-Catholic editor flays bigotry
and Schulers and Watsons before
convention of Holy Name Society.’
Watson has been dead the better part
of a decade. Why bring him up"
A former Ku Kiux official suoght
out the editor of one of our leading
Catholic weeklies recently and told
him why he had quit. The “racket”
got “too raw.” Just mention the
hierarchy a few times in the course
of an address and the boys would be
ready to part with their hard-earn
ed eagles to defend the country from
Rome, he said. He found out that
there was no sincerity in the leaders,
no truth in their assertions. The
rank and file are getting wiser, he
said. “But the Spanish Inquisition
is the thing,” he asserted. "It’s
pretty hard to get around that.’
“Tell me about it,’ ’the editor urged.
“Where did it happen, and when?
Who ran it and how?” He became
as voluble as Mr. Coolidge at an
auction sale; he knew no more about
it than a fish about a desert.
THE BULLETIN
Is revising its mailing list,
to conform to post office
regulations. Those whose
subscriptions are due are
requested to send checks
immediately in order to in
sure their securing future
numbers. The post office
department forbids the
continuing of subscriptions
which are past due.
PRESIDENT PELLET
Walton (Ga.) Tribune: Thousands
of Georgians rejoice in the high
compliment paid John J. Pelley in
his election to the presidency of*the
New York, New Haven & Hartford
railroad, but regret to see him and
his charming wife leave the state.
Mr. Pelley has made one of the
most popular presidents that the
Central of Georgia ever had.
THE TEST OF TOLERANCE
Columbia County (Ga.) News: Per
fect charity and tolerance allow
others to be intolerant toward us
without molestation and retaliation
from us.
THE HOME OF THE BULLETIN
Dahlonega (Ga.) Nugget: Augus
ta, Ga.: This is where lime was pur
chased and hauled with teams to
use in the Lumpkin county court
house nearly 100 years ago. It is
in Augusta where The Bulletin, a
paper run in the interest of the
Catholics, is published. And its edi
tor took occasion last week to in
troduce The Nugget and its editor
in tha following nice way: "The
Dahlonega Nugget, published in the
mountains of north Georgia by Edi
tor W. B. Townsend, who is also
ordinary (probate judge) of the
county, is one of the quaintest and
homey publications with which we
are familiar. It is said that Editor
Townsend rarely writes his matter;
he sets it directly by hand with any
intervening--operation.” Then four
teen clippings from The Nugget fol
low.
A DESERVED PROMOTION
Macon News: Mr. Pelley is not
only an able and efficient railroad
man, but he has those human quali
ties which win and retain friends.
The personal equation in the opera
tion of corporations is being felt
more and more. Friendly contact
with the public is an important ele
ment in winning the confidence and
co-operation which are so necessary
to the successful operation of even
the largest industry. On several oc
casions Mr. Pelley has spoken be
fore our civic clubs and other or
ganizations, and he has always had
an inspiring message. The regret at
losing him is tempered only by the
realization that he richly deserves
the promotion that has come to
him.
THE “CHURCH PENNANT”
Albany (Oa.) News: The senate
may vote down Senator Heflin’s res
olutions, but the senate can not,
without so changing its rules as to
overthrow precedents which preserve
cherished senatorial prerogatives,
prevent him from returning to the
attack on the Roman Catholic
church. . . . The “church pennant”
is a navy and not a church emblem.
It flies from a naval vessel during
religious services .whether a partic
ular service by a Catholic, a Prot
estant or a Jew. It has long been
understood to be a nation’s ac
knowledgement that there is One
whose glory and authority are con
ceded to be above that of this re
public, and the average citizen finds
no impropriety, no indignity, no of
fense to “Old Glory” when the
church pennant flies above it dur-
ing divine worship.