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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
September 21, 1929
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
tion of Georgia.
Associa-
RICHARD REID, Editor.
Published semi-monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation of the lit. 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.,
ADMHtAL WM. S. BENSON, K.C.S.G., Washington,
BARTLEY J. DOYLE, Philadelphia
, V ' ’ V ‘ ;; Honorary Vice-Presidents
J. J. HAVERTY, Atlanta First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM, Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer
KSS A /SS.»?EID» Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILE O. FERRY, Augusta
.Asst. Publicity Director
t
The Church and Human Liberty
The Catholic Church has always opposed slavery.
Gradually, step by step, she succeeded in eradicating
it from Catholic countries. First she impressed upon _ The Associated Press reports that an Catholic Boston constituency
her people a realization, of the elemental moral fact that j j' 1 ? 6 new marriage rules and regu- that he should be retained as their
the slave has an immortal soul and that the killing of a £ek°tte s between “Lw ! representative in congress, which
treaties between Italy and the Holy i many of them seemed seriously to
oee came into force in August.” As doubt in the last election.” Repre-
a result marriages at which cler- ' " — - - -
gymen officiate are recognized by
the state, as in the United States.
Yet many good people in the United
States are alarmed at the news.
Vol. X.
September 21. 1929.
No. 18
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.
Governor Osborn Objects
‘‘It was fair and sportsmanlike for you to send me the
cutting from your issue of August 24,” Hon. Chase S.
Osborn, governor of Michigan, writes The Bulletin
from Duck Island, Michigan, under date of August 29.
“Next time you roast me please get my name correct so
no other unfortunate cuss shall be hurt. The advertise
ment you refer to as having been ‘run’ in the Albany,
(Ga.) Herald was only a garbled extract of my address.
1 told the Methodist conference that ALL so-called
Protestants know of Christianity was learned from the
Roman Catholic Church which was the custodian solely
of the teachings of THE MASTER for fourteen centuries.
What I tried to do was to distinguish between the church
religious and the church political. I respect the Roman
Catholic religion. I detest the abuse of it (political and
otherwise) by such men as A1 Smith and Rascob—one a
Democrat, the other a Republican. If you cannot see
there is a vast difference you are less a Romanist than
I am. I would only have your church be a church and
not a political machine. As a church it has a big part in
the work of the world and in supplying the restraint
and comfort that only can be had in the religion of GOD
and of CHRIST.
“If I can be the slightest means of having the world
understand the- nobility and the NEED of Roman Catho
licism as a religion and the danger of its abuse by de
signing men I shall submit • eagerly to misunderstanding
and criticism.
“Some day the heart of a new Roman religion shall be
in America and thus it shall become an admirable in-
stitution of the land all of us love.”
The editorial to which Governor Osborne objects is
reprinted on page five of this issue of The Bulletin. We
have corrected the governors’name in it to read Chase S.
Osborn instead of Chas. S. Osborn, and we apologize for
the error.
Governor Osborn says the advertisement on which the
Albany Herald based the editorial which in turn was
the basis for The Bulletin’s comment was a “garbled ex
tract from my - address.” The advertisement was pub
lished last fall to create anti-Catholic feeling for politi
cal purposes. Did Governor Osborn repudiate it at the
time? Has he ever publicly repudiated it, either in
Georgia! his winter home, or elsewhere?
The Governor says he detests the abuse of the Catho
lic Church, political or otherwise, “by such men as A1
Smith and Rascob, the one a Democrat and the other a
Republican.” We likewise detest the abuse of the Catho
lic or Methodist or Baptist or any other church “politi
cal or otherwise.” On what ground does Governor Os
born base his insinuation that Governor Smith and Mr.
Rascob misused the Catholic Church? While clerical
opponents of Governor Smith were being officially urg
ed to carry their campaign against him to their pulpits,
Governor Smith in a radio talk to the nation, while de
nouncing religious bigotry, nevertheless declared that he
wanted no votes from his co-religionists because of his
religion.
“I would only have your church be a church and not
a political machine,” the Governor continues. The Catho- 1
Be Church numbers among its members about 16 per
cent of the country’s population. Yet only about nine
per cent of the members of the House of Representa
tives, six per cent of the Senate, and not a millionth
part of one per cent of the cabinet is Catholic. Not
since Roosevelt’s time has there been a Catholic in the
cabinet.
Not a single one of the twenty-five thousand priests
in the United States, as far as we have been Ale to
learn, even as much as hinted in- a sermon during the
recent campaign how he thought his congregation should
vote. Joseph Scott, Colonel Donovan and James Francis
Burke, co-religionists of Governor Smith, were members
of the inner circle of the political opposition to him.
It is logical to conclude, therefore, that either the
Catholic Church is not in politics in the United States or
if it is. it is hopelessly inefficient. Catholics know it il
not, although many Catholics are, as is their right. If
the Catholic Church were in politics, it does seem that
it would start in some place like Italy, which deprived
the Pope of his temporal possessions, or Mexico, where
atheists run the government, or France, where a Pro
testant is president, all Catholics countries. Perhaps
Governor Osborn has seme information on the subject of
the church in politics in the United States that we have
not. Y/e should like to have it, with names, dates and
places. —
slave was murder, notwithstanding pagan laws reco_
nizing the “right” of owners so to dispose of their hu
man chattels. Then, by emphasizing the dignity of
mankind, for whom Christ suffered and died, the
Church mitigated the harshness of the lot of slaves, and
in time they ran the gauntlet of all the dwindling evils
of the system up to the goal of freedom.
The Church is still fighting slavery. By her efforts
she prevented the enslavement of the Indians in those
parts of South America which are predominantly Cath
olic. But there are parts of South America; far from
the great cities of which Irvin Cobb speaks in this issue
of The Bulletin, where the influence of the Church does
not reach. Here, Father Martin Gusinde, S. V. D., noted
ethnologist, told the International Academical Mission
of our contemporaries discuss
the low intellectual level of Catho-
ncs- They base their comment on
such idicia as the number of sub
scribers to Catholic cultural move-
ments. What most Catholic cultural
movements needs is a publicity man;
few Catholics ever hear of them. Ad
vertising in the publications which
Catholics read would help too.
Father Matthew Smith, editor of the
j p. _ . T * cut iui (ii trie
Congress of St. Gabriel in Vienna a few days ago the \ eilver Catnolic Register, and Joseph
situation of the Indian is deplorable indeed; the greed |
nf CTroat TTiivnrvnnv. A — • Il /-,+■ „ r ®
— - .... ' —•J “ V.1VV.UVU. nopic-
sentative Tinkham is not a Catholic.
He is a descendant of a Mayflower
family. Why does Bishop Cannon
think it necessary to drag the Cath
olic Church into everything he dis
cusses?
of great European and American corporations- is respon
sible. The slavery of negroes is happily ended in our
country, but its curse still hangs over Africa.
Father Gusinde urged the Congress to throw the
weight of its influence against the evil, which we may
sometimes think has been wiped from the face of the
earth. Catholic voices are being continually and uni
versally raised against such degradation of human be
ings. The Catholic Church is doing more than protest
ing, however; it is sending missionaries into the track
less jungles of South America and the densest forests of
darkest Africa to bring the Gospel of Christ to these
- ,----- vvttouiig a
lot of perfectly good time, paper and
printer’s ink in debating which place
“ as me nation’s best climate. A post
card to any chamber of commerce in
this section will bring them the in-
tormation.
We have read nothing in the secu
lar press about the failure of the
Rota Tribune to take action on the
application of Count Gaston de
Bearn, grandson of the late Ross R.
Wmans of Baltimore, wealthy rail
road builder, for annulment of his
marriage to the former Monica Maude
ui v-nnoi 1U woe Avery, daughter of Mme. H. J. Levee
forlorn souls and to try to touch the consciences of their I of Paris, and the late Sir William
exploiters. And. the Catholic Church does this even I England^ ° akley Cou Y Bra y> Berks,
though she knows that a hundred years from now
when, as a result of the unspeakable sacrifices of her
missionaries the light of Christian civilization streams
into these dismal recesses, the successors of today's anti-
Catholies V?ill blame her for the very evils which she
now so valiantly fights.
Someone cut in Kansas City sends
us a poem which is beyond descrip
tion. It’s like Amy Lowell’s poems;
the feet are all mixed up. It’s unlike
hers; we’ve seen college boys thrown
out of elocution class for using less
inelegant terms, and no one will class
it as literature. It refers to a cer
tain cartoonist as “an egotistic tick.
. . . an educated flea” and then
warms up. And it’s supposed to be
written in defense of religion. Some
day someone may understand what
this man is trying to say and sue him
for libel.
Authorities on the Catholic Church
A Georgia weekly quotes E. Boyd Barrett as saying
that American Catholics will be driven into conflict
with the Holy See “just as were the patriotic Catholics
of Germany, France, Ireland and Mexico.” Dr. Bar
rett's assertion that the “patriotic Catholics” of these
countries have been in conflict with the Holy See wilt
be news to most people.
Dr. Barrett is one of those rarest of ex-priests, an ex-
Jesuit. Mr. Marshall of Atlantic Monthly fame thought
he saw in the offing a clash between American Catho -
lies and their government because of their loyalty to
their religion. Dr. Barrett now reverses the situation
by predicting a clash between American Catholics and
the Pope because of their loyalty to their government.
One is about as right as another.
Dr. Barrett is not an authority on the Catholic Church
in the United States. He was born and reared in Europe
and was a Jesuit many years before he came to the
United States a few years ago. He soon got into dif
ficulties with his superiors because of violation of rules
of the Order, which he voluntarily agreed to abide by
long after he was old enough to vote. Then he wrote
a book about them. The New York Times said that Dr.
Barrett criticized the Jesuits for their principles and
then criticized them for not living up to the principles.
Mencken, who sometimes says something very good, re
marked in his review of the book that those who do not
relish discipline should stay out of West Point and the
Jesuit Order. Dr. Barrett was a Jesuit about a score
of years before he discovered his error. The defects of
the Jesuits must not be very obvious if it took him, as
smart a man as he is, that long to discover them. Ar.d
he discovered them only after the Jesuits informed him
that they could no longer endure his violation of the
rules of the order and that his membership therein was
at an end.
A newspaperman, once a Catholic, later an Episcopal
ian, and now a self-professed agnostic, is another critic
of the Catholic Church of the Dr. Barrett school. John
J. Rascob once was a Republican. Herbert Hoover once
was rated as a -Democrat. Who regards Mr. Rascob as
an authority on the Republican party or Presiden*
Hoover on the Democratic? Yet Mr. Rascob is not bit
terly opposed to the Republican party nor President
Hoover to the Democratic. The writings of these critics
of the Catholic Church reveal that they are bitter in
One of our archbishops has express-
ed himself on one of the burning
questions of the day, and there is
a great deal of criticism of him on
the part of those who believe that it
is all right for ministers to express
their views on the subject for pub
lication. Or for archbishops, bishops
or priests who happen to agree with
them.
“I have a Roman Catholic heart,
a rationalist head and a Protestant
stomach,” Father McNabb is quoted
as saying and George Haller in The
Grand Rapids Vigil disagrees with
him on the ground that total absti
nence is a Catholic movement. But
we have always understood that a
Catholic with a “Protestant stomach”
was one who found eating fish on
days of abstinence a penance in
stead of a pleasure.
Bishop Cannon says that Repre
sentative Tinkham’s attack on him
’is simply one of his periodical at-
!ur C u u P on South, prohibition and
Methodism td convince his wet, Rom-
More than one hundred former
ministers are now Catholic priests
in England. Since Newman’s conver
sion 787 Anglican ministers have been
received into the Catholic Church.
And we have never heard of one go
ing around and denouncing his for
mer co-religionists after the fashion
of “ex-priests” financed by anti-
Catholic organizations here and else
where.
Seven per cent of the people of
Mexico own two-thirds of the land
there, according to Frank Tannen-
baum in his “Mexican Agrarian Rev
olution.” The radicals have been in
the saddle for many years down
there. They blamed the Catholic
Church for the concentration of
wealth. Why haven’t they done
something about it?
PITHY PARAGRAPHS
THE TROUBLE IN PALESTINE
Michael Williams in The Common
wealth: Catholics will echo from their
hearts the words of solicitude and
compassion which Cardinal Hayes
has addressed to the afflicted Jews
in Palestine trough their national
organization here . . . We repeat
that Great Britain’s task is a hard
one. The Moslems consider her for
mal guarantee of Jionism in the
Holy Land to be a direct invasion of
their own centuries-old rights there.
They .will proportionately resent the
High Commissioner’s current reitera
tion of that guarantee. Meanwhile
Jewish subjects of the empire are
understandably bitter, not only over
the lack of precaution which per
mitted the acute tragedy to develop,
but also over the way it is being
handled.| The crisis will be weath
ered. of course, but then only will
the deepest difficulties begin. The
revolt of all Islam would be a sim
ple problem beside the composing of
the racial, economic and religious
problem which is rending Palestine
today.
THE CATHOLIC PRESS
Martin C. Carmody, Supreme
Knight of the Knights of Columbus:
While we may well enjoy a sense of
pride in this contribution to Catho
lic literature <Columbia, the excel
lent magazine of the Knights of Co
lumbus) we should not be mindful of
our duty to support loyally other
Catholic publications. The Diocesan
organ, as a medium for conveying
the general news of the Diocese, and
the activities in which the ordinary
wishes to interest the faithful should
be supported. There are ther Ca
tholic nublications of a broader scope
than these, which should also have
a place in the Catholic home! There
is no more valuable medium for cor
recting and eradicating misbeliefs
their opposition to it. Why, then, should what they say | S&tS'SSSS^Sf^SSSerff^e^
be regarded as any more authoritative by clear-think- j ed. but we canont hope to see de
mg people?
Democrats are most competent to say what Democrats
advocate, and Republicans what their party endorses.
American statesmen are the best expounders of the
principles of Americanism. Protestant ministers of
various denominations are best equipped and informed
to present the teachings of their respective denomina- not beIieve lt . . . The light o£ this
tiQns. It would seem then that Catholic authorities, or ; hour of transfiguration will go out
at least Catholics in good standing, should be approach- | again and the darkness of Gethse-
ed for the Catholic viewpoint. The nation sanctions i ^Church. 0 ™* m ° re d6SCend UP ° n
divorce; the Catholic Church does not, and it proclaims
it from the housetops, unpopular though that stand be
It is opposed to many other evils which the country
condones or encourages, and Catholics >speak out the
teachings of the Catholic Church against them. If the
Catholic Church entertained the views on universal
temporal power of the Papacy attributed to it by anti-
Catholics, Catholics would broadcast the fact though it
cost more Catholic lives than were laid down in Mexico
rather than admit the power of the government to pre
vent them from worshipping their God as their con
science dictated. Those who believe otherwise do not
know history, .
served, and on the other to moderate
the note of laudation of everything
Catholic, which gives rise to mis
understandings and frequently of
fends those outside the Church.
OUR FELLOW-CITIZENS
Rev. Dr. John Kenny: Religiously
we are a minority, a tiny minority,
when, the masses are taken into ac
count, but not quite so tiny when ar
dent church-goers are considered.
It has been stated that our country
is non-Catholic. Well. God bless our
non-Catholic fellow-citizens! I have
never, been afraid to trust them. Our
government has never declared it
self officially non-Catholic or non-
anything else. Eleven millions of
our non-Catholic fellow-citizens of
ficially declared that bigotry in Am
erica is a spent force. Eleven mil
lion went on record last November
against a religious test for the high
est office in the land.”
WHAT CLANNISHNESS?
Springfield, Mass., Catholic Mirror:
Our native Americans are much
more clannish in voting than any
foreign group, and we need not go
beyond our own state government to
prove it. In spite of our enormous
voting population of naturalized for
eigners, our state government is over
whelmingly native American of old
Yankee stock, a fact possible only on
the certainty that naturalized citi
zens voted for them by the hundreds
of thousands.
cu. dul wc ucuiuiil iiupt: LU see ue-
veloped a strong Catholic press and
literature unless we encourage it-by
our support.
NO MILLENNIUM YET
Cardinal Faulhaber: Do you believe
that the enemies of the Church and
the gates of hell will acquiesce in
this triumph cf the Papacy? I do
not believe it . . . The light of this
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
Archbishop McNicliolas: Personal
ly I wish we could, in our Catholic
press, become more constructively
critical, not so much of others but
of ourselves. I sincerely wish that
our Catholic press may develop a
good number of constructive critics
who will, in their writing, always
be found courteous and Catholic-
minded. If this critical spirit were
developed in a spirit of respect for
authority and genuine kindness for
all, our Catholic publications would
become much more interesting. It
would tend, on the one hand, to
break the silence too often ob-
WORTHY OF EMULATION
Patrick Scanlon: This much was to
be said for the late Louis Marshall:
He had a successful professional ca
reer, was the possessor of extraordi
nary talents and abundant wealth,
had business demands which were
both insistent and of lucrative pos
sibilities, yet he found time not only
to be interested in public affairs but
to render a most useful service, to
give of his time, talents and wealth,
to every interest of his people. Loyal,
generous, devoted and interested in
the Jewish race, he was unlike most
who get to the top and live a pure
ly selfish existence.
A BASIS FOR OPINION
Father LaFarge: With the authen
tic teachings of the Church as a
basis and the co-operation of all
those who have made these things a
study, our colored Catholics should
be able to reach some consensus of
opinion on matters concerning which
they are now divided; such as the
best economic opportunities for
colored men and women; the practi
cal significance of country life; the
remedies to be applied; the right po
sition on race relations.
All the fact-finding in the world
will get us nowhere. Unless there
are higher truths to explain the facts.
There is no use knowing, for instance,
how small are a man's wages unless
you know what kind of wages he can
claim by Christian justice. Here is
where the definite voice of the
Church speaks; and that' voice will
be heard no matter how loud is the
racket of the world around us. ...