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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JUNE 29, 1929
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Associa-
tion of Georgia.
RICHARD R LID, Editor.
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service, the Catholic
Press Association of the United States, and the Geor
gia. Press Association.
Published semi-monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation of the Rt. Rev. Bishops of Ra
leigh Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and
Natchez.
1409 Lamar Building, Augusta, Georgia.
Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Year.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
S. T. Mattingly, Walton Building Atlanta, Ga.
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. C.
BARTLEY J. DOYLE, Philadelphia
Honorary Vice-Presidents
J. J. HAVERTY, Atlanta First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM, Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer
RICHARD REID, Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILE O. FERRY, Augusta
Asst. Publicity Pirec tor
Vol. X..Tune 29. 1929. No. 12
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the
Post Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1879.
Accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized
September 1, 1921.
Our Graduates’ Opportunity
Thousands of young men and women were gradu
ated this month from the Catholic schools and col
leges of the country. A graduate of a school, wheth
er awarded a diploma in the grammar school or the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University, is
a failure before he starts if he regards the education
he has secured as an end rather than a means. Such
education is merely the foundation, and a foundation
without a superstructure is not only valueless but
an eyesore.
Religious training is an essential, integral part of
education in a Catholic school. It too must be de
veloped. Indeed that is more important than any
other aspect. The moral difference between pagan
and Christian times, between pagan and Christian
nations is due only to the application of Christian
principles, and to the extent of their application de
pends the moral calibre of the people. This is no leap
true of individuals.
Graduates of Catholic schools are thoroughly
grounded in Christian principles; they can gauge the
influence of these and their golden worth, even from
a purely material standpoint, by contemplation of
their results. These principles found a world, which
in its highest pagan aspect, in the time of Augustus,
in the most cultured city in the world, thought no
sport more enjoyable than to see human beings kill
ing one another before a circus crowd. Christian
principles started in that world by abolishing human
sacrifice; then trial by combat, slavery, cruel and
unusual punishments and' other barbarities which
even the must enlightened society formerly regarded
as perfectly proper. Public opinion today abhors
such atrocities only because Christian principles have
impressed upon the public consciousness an under
standing of the dignity of the human person, a digni
ty so great that a Divine Saviour shed His blood to
redeem him.
These principles are no less influential today than
when they civilized the barbarian hordes which
■wept down upon Rome from the forests of the north,
blighting the land like a ravaging piague. The
troubles now afflicting the world, and they are many,
•re in no way comparable to the abysmal evils or
those dark days, and the teachings of Christ miti
gated and conquered them. There is not an evil
haunting mankind which the application of these
teachings will not remedy.
The graduates of our Catholic schools, permeated
With Christian principles, therefore have the remedy.
Jf they have not, who have? Let them apply these
principles in their daily lives. Let them stand for
what they know is right, oppose what they knovj is
Wrong. Our high schools and colleges -this year will
perhaps graduate 100,000 young men and women.
.What can these 100,000 not do if they will exemplify
their principles? What influence for good can the
graduates of our Catholic schools for a decade not
Wield if they will conform their lives strictly to
Catholic teaching? By example and precept they can
raise the moral tone of the country to a new level.
tury; her fame is without doubt greater than that of
any person, of her time.
. There is no natural explanation for this pheno
menon. Her spirit of self-sacrifice, indicated by her
action in deliberating choosing not only the religious
life but one of the strictest orders in the Church, is
utterly foreign to the spirit of the world. She was
no youthful aviator exemplifying the mechanical
progress the world now seems to value abqye all
things. She was no channel swimmer personifying
"emancipated womanhood.” She is no fortunate
figure riding on the crest of popular fancy because
she seems to be the crystallization of the hopes and
the dreams of the populace, for her ideals, her
aspirations and her mode of life have not a great deal
more in common with the ideals, aspirations and
mode of life of the world today that Christian prin
ciples had with paganism when men lived who had
seen Christ.
There are at least two points of meditation sug
gested by the widespread renown of the Little Flower
of Lisieux. One is the universality of the Church, em
phasized by the universal and spontaneous appeal of
St. Therese to Catholics of all nations, from the
equator to the poles on every continent in both
hemispheres. Another is the devotion to her among
400,000,000 Catholics and numerous non-Catholics de
spite the spirit of the age so completely out of har
mony with the self-sacrifice, modesty and prayer
ful seclusion that characterize her.
God sent a St. John the Baptist “to prepare the
way for the Lord.” He raised up a St. Bernard to
preach the Crusades. He inspired a St. Ignatius to
roll back the tide of deflections from the Church. Is
it not possible that he has given a St. Therese to the
world to overwhelm the loose morality and lust for
gold afflicting the world in this, the twentieth cen
tury of the Chritsian era?
An Ancient Evil
Birth control, much discussed these days, might
properly be called birth prevention. Those advocat
ing it most strongly seem to think it is something
new; as a matter of fact it was perhaps more re
sponsible than any other factor for the decline and
fall of the Roman Empire.
The Catholic Church is, always has been and al
ways will be opposed to it, just as it is, always has
been, always will be and always must be opposed to
anything intrinsically evil.
In voicing its protest and opposing the evil with
all the vigor at its command, the Catholic Church in
the United States is taking a most unselfish as well
as a moral position. Birth control is decreasing the
birth rate of non-Catholics.
If the Catholic Church had only its own interests
in mind it could view this situation with complacency
while laboring against the evil in its own ranks. With
the non-Catholic birth rate falling and its own re
taining its level, it would only be a question of time
before Catholics would outnumber all others in these
United States. But the Catholic Church raises its
voice in warning to all, whether of her fold or not.
Eminent physicians condemn birth control; emin
ent scientists deplore it. The economic argument is
the one we hear most frequently now. But the evil is
most prevalent among the wealthy, not the poor. And
if economic conditions make it increasingly difficult
to support families, the remedy lies in improving
economic conditions, not in depriving souls of their
right to existence, not by murdering souls. A pro
posal that a part of the population be killed off be
cause of crop failure or food shortage would be less
indefensible.
A Distinction That Is a Difference
Rev. Dr. Clarence True Wilson of the Methodist
Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals
replies to the Methodist Senator Copeland's criticism
of it for political activity by accusing the National
Catholic Welfare Conference of similar conduct.
The Century and St. Therese
To the office of The Bulletin there come regularly
Catholic newspapers and magazines from the four
corners* of the world. Not only from Canada and
Europe but from China, India and Ceylon they bring
their messages of Catholic life and progress. And
while they radiate the atmosphere of the far
countries which their editors and readers know as
home quite as we know our own communities, under
neath that overtone is the common denominator of
the Catholic ft6th.
Within the memory of men and women of middle
age, a young nun died in a small convent in an ob
scure village in France. Therese Martin was her
name, and even in her community she was little
known. Today she is known and honored by more
and in more widely separated places of the
ny other woman of her own or this cen-
The National Catholic Welfare Conference and
other Catholic organizations will do what they can
to protect the interests of the Catholic Church when
they are threatened, as they were when the State of
Oregon voted to close all Catholic schools. But, as
the Chicago New World asserts editorially, "the
National Catholic Welfare Conference is not a polit
ical organization. It does not engage in politics. It
does not threaten senators or congressmen. It is not
allied with any political party. It does not set up any
candidate for the Senate or for Congress. It does nbt
bluntly threaten and politely blackmail those who
will not vote for its interests. It has no particular
axe to grind. It has no special hatchet to bury. It Is
not out to reform the nation. It is not seeking fa
vors from the Senate or the House. Above all, it Is
not striving to put upon the statute books any special
kind of legislation of its own choosing. Probably it
would be opposed to any legislation that threatened
its existence, or the existence of its charitable or
educational institutions,- •: .... ,
r*
Dixie Musings j
Readers of The Bulletin sympa
thize with the Rt. Rev. Bishop of
Savannah on the loss he sustained
during June in the death in Chi
copee, Mass., of his sister, Mrs.
Margaret McGrath. During his
years as professor and president of
the Marist College at the Catholic
University, our bishop considered
Chicopee and the residence of his
sister home, and her passing was
a source of deep sorrow to him, a
sorrow which should be greatly
mitigated not only by the thought
of tho reward for the life of an
exemplary Catholic woman but by
the consciousness of the joy he
brought into her life. May she rest
in eternal peace.
The Roman Rota heard fifty-one
causes for nullification of marriage
in 1928. It declared twenty mar
riages null and rejected thirty-one
appeals. These fifty-one causes
were all that reached the Rota from
the 400,000,000 Catholics of the.
world. The thirty-one marriages
declared null were no marriages
from the beginning, the Rota found.
These statistics may be useful
when another Marlborough-Van-
derbilt case comes along. The Ca
tholic Church refused to declare
the marriage of Henry the Eighth
null and lost England to the
Church. If a marriage were null
it would so declare it with equal
disregard for consequence, for the
truth must prevail.
J. Kent Wheaton in an address at
a K. of C. Communion breakfast
in New York, deplored the lack of
Catholic news in secular news
papers and suggested that the
Knights of Columbus establish
their own chain of newspapers
throughout the country. Editors of
Catholic newspapers who have been
taken to task for not publishing
news about which they knew noth
ing but which was known tq the
complainant who failed to send it
in can tell Mr. Wheaton that if
there is not as much Catholic news
in the secular press as there should
be Catholics themselves are large
ly to blame. Down here in the
South we have found that news of
Catholic events, properly written
and typed, almost invariably is not
only published but cordially wel
comed.
In a recent letter in The Boston
TrarisClipt, Dr. McCarthy answers
a correspondent who says, that
“Catholics are ever ready to an
swer attacks on • their church” by
asserting that he has found them
singularly inert in explaining,
against misrepresentation, the real
teaching and practice of the
Church. That has been our ex
perience. Dr. Humphrey Desmond,
editor of the Catholic Citizen, Mil
waukee, goes further. “Can you
name in your own locality five Ca
tholics with sufficient zeal and in-
.telii & tnce to serve on such a com
mittee’;” He is speaking of a com
mittee to answer misrepresenta
tions of the Church. ‘Who will take
the initiative? Nobody, nowhere.”
Dr. Desmond should cheer up a bit.
The Catholic Laymen's Association
of Georgia has been doing that I
work day in and day out, week in
and week out, for thirteen years, '
always in charity, always, as a
correspondent suggests to him. as
suming good faith on the part of
the offender.
Twin brothers. Albert C_ Roth
and Charles A. Roth, of Elizabeth,
N. J., were ordained to the priest
hood in the Jesuit Order at Wood-
stock College June 23 by Arch
bishop Curley. This is the fourth
ordination of this kind in the his
tory of the Catholic Church in the
United States and the second in the
Jesuit Order here. Some months
ago Rev. Paul and Francis Hen
drick, twins, were ordained in the
Diocese of Buffalo. In 1894, thirty-
five years ago twins were ordain
ed at Woodstock. We have a par
ticular interest in this first pair of
twins ordained,/ for they were our
own Father Daniel J. and Father
Philip Murphy. S. J., of the South
ern province of the Jesuits. Fath
er Philip Murphy died a few years
ago. Father Dan was stationed at
Macon for many years, but haa
now retired to Spring Hill. They
served in Augusta, at Spring Hill
and in many ther places through
out the South. If the Fathers
Kendrick and the Fathers Roth are
as beloved as the first twins or
dained in the United States, they
will be second to none in the af
fections of their people.
The previous issue of The Bul
letin recorded the fact that Miss
Mary Kemp of Mt. St. Joseph’s
Academy, Augusta, won first prize
ic the Benjamin Harvey Hill Essay
Contest conducted by the Daugh
ters of the Confederacy there, her
award being in the high school
class, and that Joseph Stulb won
first honors in the grammer school
class, with Miss Mary O'Shea of
the same school and Miss Anna
Louise Boeckman of Sacred Heart
winning honorable mention and
Miss Philomena Andrews of Mt.
St. Joseph’s special mention. All
were required to sign fictitious
uames to their essays, 1,085 of
whicn were submitted. Joseph Stulb
chose "Alfred E. Smith” as his
nom de plume. On receiving the
award and the five dollars in gold
accompanying It, he wrote to Gov
ernor Smith telling him of il and
the good luck the use of his name
brought him. Governor Smith re
plied wjth a kindly letter of thanks.
It • highwayman he’’'’ T oseph up
Question Box
Q- Do lot the words of our Lord
| in regard to eating His F esh in-
| dicate that Communion is an neces
sary for salvation as is Baptism?
A. The words of our Lord which
Indicate the necessity of Baptism
were spoken to man in general.
They might read—unless any one
be born of water and the Holy
Ghost he shall not enter the King
dom of Heaven. When our Lord
said that it was necessary that we
have life in us that we should eat
His Flesh and drink His Blood, He
was speaking to the Jews who had
| been witnesses of His great miracle,
the multiplication of bread. If you
will read the gospel story you will
remember that the Jews asked what
they should do that they might
work the works of God. He an
swered and told them that the
work of God was belief in Him
Whom God had seen. He then told
them that he who would believe in
Him would have everlasting life
and added: “I am the Bread of
Heaven". The Jews would not be
lieve in Him even though they had
seen manifest kigns of His divin
ity. They found His saying a hard
one and would not hear it. He then
used the words which you quote.
He was speaking to those who will
fully and knowingly refused to be
lieve in Him and went away from
Him. One who would know that
our Lord was really and truly pres
ent in the Blessed Sacrament and
would know that our Lord com
mended them to receive Him in His
Eucharistic Presence and yot
would deliberately refu- could not
be saved should he die in that
condition.
_Q- Since we do not know the
dispositions of the &ouls in Pcrga-
tory how can we ap jly an indul
gence '.o them?
A. The Church does not attempt
to directly apply indulgences, the
infinite merits of Jesus Christ and
the superabundant merits of saint-
ism, to the souls in Purgatory over
which she has no jurisdiction. She
can only offer these merits to God
by way of suffrage, and leave the
application entirely to His good
pleasure. Thus, a Catholic may
gain a plenary indulgence and offer
it up for a particular soul in Purga
tory; but 3od is not pledged to ap
ply it, and it by no means follows
that this soul is at once ushered
into the presence of God. This
seems, however, to be the ordinary
Protestant notion, although it was
expressly condemned by the Church
in the Council of Vienna, . D., 1311.
Visitation Academy at
Mobile Graduates 20
(Special to The Bulletin)
MOBILE, Ala.—Diplomas were
awarded to twenty members of the
class of 1929 at the ninety-eighfh
commencement of the Academy of
the Visitation here May 30, at
which Rt. Rev. Thomas j. Tooien.
D. D„ Bishop of Mobile, presided
and conferred the diplomas and
medals. The address was deliver
ed by Rev. J. R. O.’Donoghue, rec
tor of the Cathedral of the Im
maculate Conception. Miss Sara
Simpson delivered the vadelictory.
Members of the 1929 class at this
historic, institution were the Miss
es Margaret Mary Bobe, Elizabeth
Cary, Anna Manette Crow. Mary
Crane, Margaret Ennis, Margaret
Fowler, Antionette Hanlon. Irieen
Johnson, Jane Johnson. Shirley
Jones, Marion Kiaas, Regina Kelly,
Dixie Lawless. Leona Le Blanc’
Mary Elizabeth McAleer, Rebecca
McDonald. Marie Rohmer, Merwina
Shannon. Sara Simpson and Mar
garet Thompson.
Commencement Number
This is the commencement num
ber of The Bulletin, and in order to
carry accounts of as many schools
in this section as possible it was
necessary to condense a number of
the stories; the essential facts,
however, were retained. Accounts
of commencement exercises which
arrived too late for this issue, and
other matter omitted for lack of
space, together with those which
will arrive in the meantime will
appear in the next issue of The
Bulletin. The Bulletin is indebted
to the schools for their cooperation
and to newspapers in West Palm
Beach, Jacksonville. Savannah and
Augusta for the use of cuts, includ
ing the Augusta Herald, the Savan
nah Morning News and the Savan
nah Press.
The publication of these com
mencement stories in The Bulletin
is the best possible evidence to the
people of this part of the United
States of the interest of Catholics
in education and of the sacrifices
they are making to give their chil
dren a religious education. Catho
lics through their schools are an
nually saving the states in this sec
tion hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, which the communities and
states themselves would have to
spend if it were not for Catholic
schools; this is a contribution that
Catholics are making to the edu
cational progress of the Southeast
in addition to the taxes they pay
for schools in common with other
citizens.
and deiv,anas the gold or the letter,
he can have the «/<-m
d — —rt