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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L AY MEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
OCTOBER 19, 1929
THE BULLETIN
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 Rt. Rev. Bishops of Ra-
ieigh Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile and
Natchez.
140!) 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. II. RICE, K.C.S.G., Augusta President
COL. P. H. CALLAHAN, K.S.G., Louisville. Ky.,
ADMIRAL WM. S. BENSON, K.C.S.C.. Washington,
D. C.
BARTLEY J. DOYLE, Philadelphia
Honorary Vice-Presidents
•1. J. iHAVflRTY, Atlanta.... First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM, Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta Treasurer
RICHARD REID, Augusta Publicity Director
Monopoly of Bigotry
The Thomasville Press is being quoted as having as
serted that “the Catholic Church insists that all the
bigots belong to Protestant Churches.”
The Catholic Church, of course, insists on no such
thing, because it isn't true. A bigot is a person intoler
ant of opinions conflicting with his own. Protestantism
is 400 years old. There were bigots before there were
Protestants. There are bigots where there are no Protes
tants. —
There are different kinds of bigots: religious, political,
economic, social and numerous other brands. Every ed
itor with a good circulation list is apt to have bigots
among his readers; persons, for instance, intolerant of
Dixie Musings
MISS CECILE O. FERRY, Augusta ,
Asst. Publicity nircctor an Y opinion conflicting with their own that they de
Vol. X.
October 19. 1929.
No. 20.
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the
Post Office at Augusta, Ga., under Act of March, 1S79.
Accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103. Ac* of October 3, 1917, authorized
September 1, 1921.
Admiral Benson’s Coming
When the history of the United States for this half-
century is written, the name of no Georgian and of few
Americans will rank higher than that of Admiral Wil
liam S. Benson, U. S. N., Chief of Naval Operations dur
ing the World War, the principal lay speaker at the
fourteenth annual convention of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia at Savannah a 'week from Sun
day.
It was the privilege and honor of the Laymen's Asso
ciation to have Admiral Benson as its guest at its sixth
annual convention in Atlanta in 1921, and his presence
at that convention and his inspiring message made it a
springboard from which the Association leaped to new
heights of achievement. In the development of the Lay
men’s Association since that time the encouragement of
Georgia’s most distinguished son has played a most ef
fective part.
Admiral Benson is as distinguished as a Catholic as
he is as a citizen. His conspicuous success as Chief of
Naval Operations in the World War in transporting the
hundred of thousands of American troops to Europe
through submarine-infested waters without the loss of
one man crossing on an American ship rates him among
the great naval leaders of all time, and this feat was but
an example of the unvarying calibre of his service.
As president of the National Council of Catholic Men
in its formation period he gave that organization, which
still has his services on its executive board, such a
vigorous start than obstacles which seemed insurmount
able leveled before it. He has been an honorary vice-
president of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor-
serve frequent position on the front page or that their
views on preparedness, farm relief or the situation in
Manchuria are correct and those to the contrary ema
nations from a deranged mind. Many pastors have big
ots in their congregations, including those who will
brook no disputing of their conviction that they know
Billy Parker, once editor of the
anti-Cathoiic paper, The Menace, was
shot and killecj in Jacksonville a few
days ago by a leader of a rival fac
tion in an organization for which he
edited a magazine. A few years from
now the anti-Catholics will be saying
that the deed was done by the grand
knight of the Jacksonville Knights of
Columbus or the Archbishop of Jack
sonville. Parker’s anti-Cathoiic pa
per, The Menace, published in Au
rora, 111., was a forerunner of The
F. Forum and had a circulation of
1,000,000 at one time. It’s only a mem
ory now. Poor Billy is dead, and
Tom; Snd the Church upon which
they poured out the vials of their
wrath lives serenely on, its charities
increasing, new edifices arising, the
number and devotion of its children
growing. They have unwittingly
contributed to this result.
The Sisters have a magazine of
their own now, “Sponsor Regis,” Col-
legeville, Minn. We believe this is
the first publication of its kind in the
United States. Edited by the monks
more about running the church than the clergy and the of . John’s Abbey, Collegeville,
bishops.
When a man is bigoted along one line it is possible
that he is not conspicuougjy tolerant in other fields.
There is, therefore, probably no class of any numerical
importance without its bigots. There are Catholics as
well as Protestants intolerant of the views of others on
various subjects. But we have yet to meet a Catholic
who would vote against a candidate for political office
because of his membership in a church different from
his own.
A Test Case
between Catholics and Protestants is not merely a sham,
gia since' the turn of the decade. Civil- and religious,will accept our challenge to have all these ques
tion or s have come to him from all sides; the Holy Father
has made him a Knight Commander of St. Gregory and
a Knight of Malta. Notre Dame has conferred the
Laetare Medal on him. His honors, his services to his
Church, his State and his Country are but reflections
of his sterling character which radiates integrity and
sincerity.
Georgia is justly proud of this great-hearted, large-
minded, distinguished American who first saw the light
of day in the Central City of our Commonwealth and
who has shed such lustre on his native state. The
Catholics of Georgia and the members of the Catholic
Laymen’s Association in particular are proud of him,
and as an expression of their pride, their respect, their
affection and their love for him they are preparing to
come by the hundreds from the Georgia mountains to
the sea to the See City of the Diocese to greet him at
the Association convention in Savannah a week from
Sunday, where they will also greet, with the respect
which seven years of his gentle and deyoted service to
them has ripened into love, their Rt. Rev. Bishop, who
will honor the gathering with his presence, his blessing
and his words of counsel.
The loyalty of Catholics to the United States has
been questioned by anti-Catholics from Benedict Ar
nold to D. C. Stephenson. In no year of the intervening
century and a half have they been able to point to any
conduct of American Catholics to justify their alleged
suspicions, and they seem to endeavor to make up for
this deficiency by renewed and more vociferous accu
sations.
An editorial in The Extension Magazine calls for a
showdown, and suggests a method. If they are sincere
and have the courage of their convictions, Extension
Magazine says, in addressing two spokesmen of this
school, “they will, without undue delay, act upon at
least some of our suggestions. If they fail to do so, they
stand accused either of chicanery or of pusillanimity.
“If your contentions are justified, if you are in good
faith, and your; solicitude for a better understanding
with the assistance of the clergy and
Sisters, it should fill a real need. It
is but a dollar a year, Sisters will ap
preciate a subscription.
An Episcopalian minister, Rev.
Henry Meiser, at a conference of the
Episcopalian clergy of the Long
Island Diocese at East Hampton late
in September, said that the only way
to counteract the pagan influences of
summer camps was by the estab
lishment of an Episcopal camp for
boys. He is severe in his criticism of
some semi-religious camps, which he
calls a danger to faith. The Catho
lics of the Southeast are fortunate in
having at their doors such camps as
Marist in Georgia and St. Francis
in Tennessee.
The Good Lives After Them
We are told that it is a poor will that does not men
tion God. Granting this to be true, there have been
some good wills recorded in Georgia recently. Notable
among them were those of Miss Amelia Horne, of Ma
con, and Mrs. Joseph Burke, of Atlanta.
■ These beloved Georgia women labored for the Church
during their lives; their wills continued their good work
after death. They showed themselves Catholic in in
terest as well as belief; their bequests remembered local
parish activities, missionary efforts, the orphans, educa
tion.
The custom of leaving large sums for religious work
seems in this country to be more prevalent among
wealthy Protestants than Catholics. Some years ago a
Catholic leader died and left an estate valued in the
millions: There was pot a religious bequest in his will;
possibly he thought the performance of his religious
duties during his life and the speeches he made to
Catholic organizations canceled his obligation to the God
Who gave him his wealth. Not so long ago another
Catholic whose wealth reached into the hundreds of
millions left nothing but a comparatively small sum for
Marses. Under such circumstances, one cannot help re
calling the bcnefaclions of the Carnegies, the Rocke
fellers, the Dukes, the Sages, and hosts of others in
similar situations outside the Catholic Church.
The wills of Miss Horne and Mrs. Burke are most
encouraging to ail interested in the progress of religion
in this section. It must have been a source of great sat
isfaction to them in life no less than in death to know
that their work would live on after they had been called
to their eternal home.
tions officially and authoritatively settled once and for
all time. You are lawyers! Formulate your charges,
draw up your bill of particulars, present your indict
ments to the proper courts.
“Call the attention of the President of the f United
States to the fact that there reside within the limits of
his nation 20,000,000 men and women (about 7.000,000 of
whom are of voting age) who, in your opinion, on ac
count of the fact that they owe spiritual allegiance to
the Pope, are not fit to be citizens of the United States,
and therefore, not worthy to hold office. Demand a dec
laration from him! We prefer that you do this rather
than being put to the painful necessity of doing it our
selves.
“And do not rest there! Carry the subject to the Con
gress of the United States. If you believe what you pre-
Statistics compiled by Francis
Crowley of the N. C. W. C. Bureau of
Education indicate that while only
one-third of the Catholic boys and
girls attending high school are in
Catholic schools, these schools con
tribute more than one-half the num
ber of students in Catholic colleges.
The Catholic Citizen of Milwaukee,
edited by the able Humphrey Des
mond, quotes Arthur Hunter, a life
insurance actuary, as saying in a
New York Y. M. C. A. address that
when the first total abstainer ap
plied to a large London company for
insurance, a special meeting of the
board of directors was called to deal
witli this phenomenon and a special
Catholic Missions in
Non-Catholic Georgia
Story in '‘The Sign” Tells of
Reaction at Moultrie, Fitz
gerald and Bainbridge
(FROM THE SIGN)
From April 28th, to May 19th,
Father Richard Fay, C. P., conduct
ed missions at Moultrie, Fitzgerald,
an'd Bainbridge, in Georgia, of which
Rev. Leo M. Kennan, of Albany, pas
tor, 'and Rev. Thomas A. Brennan,
assistant, were then in charge.
The average number of Catholics
in each of these places was twenty-
five. However, the average numbei
in attendance at the services, was
one hundred and twenty-five. The
interest non-Catholics took in these
mission services was remarkable.
They were most anxious to become
acquainted with the teachings and
practices of the Catholic Religion.
At the beginning of each mission
the non-Catholics timidly inquired
whether they would be allowed to
attend. The reason for this timidity
was due to the misunderstanding that
the doctrines of the Catholic Chur :n
were of a secretive nature and only
members of the Catholic Church were
privileged to hear these doctrines
preached.
The non-Catholic ministers did
many things to engage the minds
and time of their people during the
missions in order to prevent these
people from attending the mission
services. But these same people "got
wise” to these tactics and did not
hesitate to call their ministers atten
tion to the fact that they v/ete at
tending the mission services and were
instrumental in bringing even the
ministers themselves to the services.
These were the first Catholic mis
sions people in this section of the
country ever had the opportunity of
making and they begged with all
their hearts’s sincerity that they be
continued.
Thanks to the generous contribu
tions of the non-Catholics, Father
Richard not only secured his ex
penses but also a splendid stipend.
Several non-Catholics told him
how much was missing in their
churches to satisfy the thirst for
true religion their souls experienced
and how much that thirst was satis
fied by becoming acquainted with
the teachings of the Catholic Church.
These facts are an evidence of the
work that remains to be done right
here in our own country. They are a
striking proof that America, even in
those parts more common 1 -- regard-
premium was demanded. “Contrary icsalu -
f°„ To 1 expectations this man lived to j e d as hostile to the Church, is be-
e 82 years old. | coming riper every day for the
fructifying seed of Catholicism. It
is unfortunate, however, that while
the people are anxious to hear the
The Asheville Citizen, discussing the
action of a Brooklyn clergyman in
barring colored worshippers from his
church, recalls the time when colored
and white .used the same churches in
the South. It says: “Our under
standing has always been that it was
through no action of the white
churches that the Negroes of the
South generally broke away from the
white churches and set up churches
of their own. We know in many
eases earnest efforts were made by
the white churches to discourage
them from doing this in the begin
ning. But the Negroes of the South
wanted churches of their own, with
their own ministers, with their own
assemblies, with their own control.”
truth there are so few priests to
teach it. For instance, in the South-
West Georgia Missions, covering 16.-
000 square miles there were only
three priests!
ASHEVILLE PROTESTANT
LAUDS ST. GENEVIEVE’S
Commends Its Excellence in
Letter to Asheville Times
Father Gutierrez Lanza. S. J..
meteorologist of Belen College, Ha-
_ vana. is more important than the
tend, you- are justified in demanding that the national I * ires ' c ' cnt when a tropical storm
‘ blows up out of the Caribbean Sea.
legislature reinstate the political disabilities against
Catholics wnich your Protestant forbears had put into
force and effect' more than a century ago.
“And while you are in Washington, may we suggest
that you file a protest with the War and Navy Depart
ments against the enlistment of Catholic young men in
(he Army and Navy of the United States. Don’t wait
until the next war; do it now!
“But that isn’t all that you can do. Here's a sugges
tion that ought to appeal to you .There are more than
a hundred Catholic bishops in the United States, whose
fealty to the Pope is unquestioned. Why not file
charges against them simultaneously in the courts of
the 48 states? «If that is too large an order, what is
there to prevent you from challenging the Catholic
archbishops resident in your respective cities, at the
polls, at the same time filing charges against them In
the courts? Or any parish priest will serve the purpose
as well.
“Or you may do this; Both in Chicago and in New
York there are scores of prominent Catholic laymen,
some of them presidents of banks, or railroads, of cor
porations, of great industrial enterprises. Select a few
who, in your judgment, are the most noteworthy, and
launch your formal charges against them. And do not
stop until you have reached the Supreme Court of the
United States.”
Dr. Boyd Barrett sees American Catholics seceding
from Rome, and Dr. James J. Walsh following him in
The Forum points out that American Catholics con
tribute more to the Pope than any other group in the
world. He says that a “bloc” of 300 Italian Bishops
“sways ecumenical councils and controls legislation in
the Church.” Dr. Walsh points out' that ‘there are 1,753
Bishops in the world, and decisions are made by a ma
jority vote; the Italian Bishops are therefore outnumber
ed six to one. But in the peaceful organization of the
Church, permeated by good will and a desire to carry
out the Divine Will, this fact is unimportant.
He is one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, authorities on such storms.
It vvas our pleasure to meet him and
to inspect 1 Belen College with him
on a visit Ito Havana some time ago.
The new Belen College is one of the
most impressive educational struct
ures we have ever seen. It looks as
though an earthquake could not stir
it.
The Christian Science Monitor
records that Italy is ninety-five per
cent Catholic and three per cent
Protestant: The Monitor predicts that
the Catholic proportion will be even
larger due to the Catholicity of new
provinces added since the war. It
concludes that with so few non-Cath
olics in the country, it showed a real
sense of equity to safeguard their
rights as the new Lateran Treaty
does.
The vigorous and effective protests
of the Jews after the trouble in
Palestine are being compared by
some of our contemporaries with the
comparative inertia of Catholics dur
ing the Mexican troubles and the lack
of effective publicity given such
protests as they did make. In 1919
we / attended a meeting in Madison
Square Garden called to protest out
rages against the Irish. A -shoe-horn
could hardly have forced another
person into the Garden. An over
flow meeting outside was attended
by 25,000, according to newspaper
estimates. We are inclined to be
lieve that the Jews or no one else
ever held a protest meeting that sur
passed that. We believe the Jewish
protest was also more racial than re
ligious.
In your charity please pray for the
soul of Mrs. Catherine Dee Reid,
mother of the editor of The Bulle
tin, who died in Augusta last week,
and whose beautiful life, gentle
character, sweet cheerfulness in suf
fering and serene devotion to her
faith will ever be a precious example
to those in whose lives her summons
to her eternal home creates an ir
remediable void.
(Snecial to The Bulletin)
ASHEVILLE. N. C.—A letter from
J. L. Craddock, a non-Catholic, to
the Asheville Times and published
in a September issue of that paper,
directs attention to the splendid edu
cational work being done at St. Gen-
evieve’s-Of-The-Pines and which
“doubtless due to the modesty of its
executives fails to receive the acclaim
which it deserves.” Mr. Craddock’s
letter continues:
“I have the good fortune to know
one fine little boy who, although ad-
mittedlly bright, was not making sat
isfactory progress at the public school
which he was attending, and whose
father decided to send him to St.
Genevieve's. His improvement in
his studies was at once apparent, and
has been nothing short of marvelous,
he having learned more there in one
year than he did in two at the pub
lic school which he formerly attend
ed.
“The work of the instructors at St.
tenevieve’s is most thorough; they are
efficient, patient and conscientious,
seeking not only to train the minds
but to properly form the characters
of their pupils, so that they will de
velop into useful men and women.
Their methods insDire confidence on
the part of the children, who respect
and esteem them, and who are con
sequently making rapid progress in
their studies.
“Fearing that I may be accused of
partisanship in writing this laudatory
communication about St. Genevieve’s,
will state that I am not a Catholic.
My grandfather was a Methodist
preacher and all my relatives are
Protestants.”
TWO NOTED PAINTINGS LENT
COAST COLLEGE
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE, Cal.—Two
invaluable paintings, the works of
California artists, hung in the col
lege dining room, soon will be un
veiled, it was announced hefe by
college authorities.
The works—“Muir Glacier”, by
Thomas Hill, and “Cypress Point.”
by William Keith—are the property of
Thomas Hanna, of Martinez, who is
lending them to the college for an
indefinite period. The paintings are
in direct contrast, the first depicting
a massive river of ice at its entrance
into the ocean and the second show
ing a storm-tossed sea.