Newspaper Page Text
THE BULLETITq OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 15. 1930
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen's Associa-
tion of Georgia.
RICHARD REID, Editor.
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 Tear.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
8. 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.G.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 CEC1LE O. FERRY, Augusta
Asst. Publicity Director
Vol. XI. February 15, 1930. No. 4.
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.
The Encyclical on Education
The Macon Telegraph editorially asserts that it finds
itself in the mortifying position of sharing Senator
Heflin’s distaste for the Pope’s recent encyclical on ed
ucation.
"It is the Pope’s idea that education is the function I
of the Church,” The Telegraph says, to which it re
torts that “the theory that the Church has the respon
sibility for education is absurd, particularly so in a
country where there are 300 religious sects.” It also
quotes the Pope as saying that “every method of edu
cation founded wholly or in part on a denial of human
nature is false,” and continues: “There is much more in
the same Strain, hut that is quite enough to indicate
the theories of a bachelor in regard to the education of
children.”
We doubt that Tire Telegraph’s slighting reference
to “the theories of a bachelor in regard to the educa
tion of children” will be relished by the teachers in
Georgia or elsewhere in the United States who have a
practical monopoly of the nation’s experience in the j
education of children, and a great majority of whom I
are unmarried.
* I
If The Telegraph means to convey to its readers that j
"it is the Pope’s idea that education is the function of :
the Church” alone, it is in error. Although the official i
text of the encyclical is not available as this is being
written, the text published by the New York Times is
sufficient to indicate that the Church makes no such
claim. It does assert that Christ commissioned His
Church: “Ail power is given Me in Heaven and on
earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing
them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am
with you all days even to the consummation of the
world.” Tire Church therefore, says the encyclical, has
a Divine and inviolable right to teach, and since this
right comes from God tire State has no moral right to
claim precedence ever it in this field.
Not only has tire Church the right to educate, but,
Says the encyclical, “families have directly from God
the mission and therefore the right to educate their
children, which is an inalienable right because intimate
ly bound up with family duties, which arc prior to any
claims by civil society or by the State and therefore in
violable by any earthly authority.” The encyclical
Quotes Canon La\y on the point: “Parents are obliged
to provide with every means in their power religious,
moral, physical and civil education for their children,
providing also for their temporal well-being.” The en
cyclical quotes in support of this right the decision of
the United States Supreme Court in the Oregon case:
“The child is not the mere creature of the State; those
who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right,
coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare
him for additional obligation.”
In the third place, the State as well as the Church and
the family has rights and duties in education in a way
iorresponding to its aims. It is the duty of the State
to protect and promote, not to absorb, families and in
dividuals, the encyclical asserts; it is the duty of the
State to recognize and protect the educational rights of
the Church and the family over Christian education.
“Similarly, it is the duty of the State to protect this
right in offspring if the educational action of the parents
should be lacking, either physically or morally ....
Rien the State must complete the work of the Church
and families in those cases where it is proved insuf
ficient, even by means of schools of its own, because
the State more than any other body is provided with
adequate means which are placed at its disposal for the
benefit of all, and it is right that the State should use
these means for the benefit of those who provided
them."
Is that an assault on the public school system of our
country where it is as plain as the Middle West that, if
the State did not supplement the educational facilities
which these agencies are able to provide, mil
lions of our children would be without educational fa
cilities?
The encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Education contains
nothing new; it is but a restatement of the Catholic po
sition. Catholics believe that man was created for the
honci and glory of God, that the most important thing
in existence is the saving of one s soul, and that all
other things must be subjected to that. They believe
that, , as the then President Coolidge asserted, “a relig
ious foundation is necessary if the other attributes of
education are to survive”, and that the most important
of the “r’s” of education is religion. They believe,
therefore, that any system of education which ignores
religion is deficient, and in the United Stales they have
made provisions to overcome that deficiency by provid
ing at their own expense schools of their own in which
religion is not excluded.
If members of non-Catholic denominations are satis
fied with education minus religion, that is their respon
sibility. If they provide no educational facilities for
their children the State has, according to the Papal En
cyclical, the right and the duty “to see to it that all cit
izens have necessary knowledge of their civic and na
tional duties, and that to the degree of intellectual,
moral and physical culture which in the present con
ditions of our times is truly indispensable for the com
mon good,” and again: “Neither is the State excluded
from the task of educating youth by other means and
ways which belong to it in virtue of the very authority
whereby it is empowered to promote the welfare of its
citizens in the temporal order.”
Catholics and Religious Education
Some of our good friends seem to be of the opinion
that no ■ one, not even the Catholic laity, will pay any
attention to what the Pope has said in his encyclical on
Christian education. They do not know the temper of
the Catholic laity.
Touch a man’s pocketbook and you touch his heart.
When a man’s heart is touched by a movement he will
loosen the strings of his purse. In the history of the
Church in the United States there have been move
ments which appealed to the laity for a while, were
supported and then wilted and died for want of sup
port. Pleas for support for Catholic enterprises are
successful in proportion to the appeal the object of a
movement makes to Catholics,
Catholic schools are made possible by the sacrifice of
the devoted priests and religious who teach in them and
the financial support of the laity. Take away the sup
port of the laity and the Catholic educational system
could not exist for a single month. The State can force
a man to pay his school taxes by issuing execution
against his property. The Church cannot compel its
members to contribute as much a one five-cent piece.
Yet the Catholics of the United States today support
over 7,000 elementary schools alone, with an attendance
of over 2,200,000 pupils, not to mention thousands of
high schools and hundreds of colleges. At the same time
Catholics are paying at least their share of the support
of the public school system. The Catholic laymen and
women not only willingly support the Catholic school
system but demand religious education for their chil
dren.
After reading in The Bulletin of the disastrous fire
which rendered nearly one hundred and fifty. Sisters,
Missionary Servants of the Blessed Trinity, homeless at
Holy Trinity, Ala., Mr. Jno. C. Groene, widely known
music publisher of Cincinnati, sent a check to the editor
to be forwarded to the Sisters. The Bulletin is ready to
forward other checks, or they may be sent direct to Rev.
Mother Boniface, Missionary Servants of the Blessed
Trinity, Holy Trinity, Ala. The Bulletin does not make
pleas for funds in its columns even for itself, but the
plight of the Sisters at Holy Trinity should appeal to all.
The Fruit of the Tree
The story of Molokai and Catholic sacrifices for the
lepers there is all bult universally familial', but similar
heroism of priests, brothers and nuns in many other
places sometimes escapes notice. Here, for instance, is
a tribute by Rev. C. F. Andrews, a Protestant minister,
to the labors of the nuns of the Leper Island Chacacha-
care, reprinted from the Trinidad Guardian of the
C. B. C. V.:
“It would be difficult to speak words of too high
praise for the lives of the devoted Sisters of the Poor
of the Dominican Congregation of the Catholic Church,
who give themselves night and day to. the work of
nursing the sick among the lepers. One of the Sisters
was with us on the steamer, returning to her ministry
after all too short an absence on leave which she had
very badly needed. As she walked along the road from
ihe jetty, she was greeted with love by everyone she
met, young and old alike. The children ran up to her
with joy and her whole heart went out to them in love.
There was no difference in her affection between one
race and another. Each one regarded her as their very
own. Her "joy at being back was evident, though her
face had already begun to tell of the strain of the life
she had set before herself to carry out unto the end.
“The words of Christ came instinctively to mind:
’Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends.’ The Mother Superior
welcomed us at the Convent, after our journey through
the Leper Settlement was finished. We saw the chapel
where the centre of all the Convent life is found—that
life of the spirit which has borne up day by day, the
trail bodies of those devoted Sisters of the Poor, enabl
ing them to carry out with fortitude a life of heroism
and loneliness, away from the earthly comforts which
most men and women hold dear. It was with deepest
reverence that I entered that sanctuary and shared for
a few silent moments this spiritual retreat.”
Such are the fruits of the Catholic Church, which the
anti-Catholic would wipe from the face of the earth.
QUESTION BOX
BY REV. B. X. O’REILLY
Q. For what length of time docs
our Lord remain with us alter we
receive Him in Holy Communion?
A. Our divine Lord, Body, Blood,
Soul and Divinity, remains with us
so long as the appearances of Bread
are preserved. Under the ordinary
operations of digestion these appear
ances are soon materially changed.
This probably takes place within a
few minutes but certainly not more
than a quarter of an hour.
Q. May one gain the indulgences
attached to the Stations more than
once in a day?
A. While some authorities say that
the indulgences may be gained more
than once in a day it is not quite cer
tain. There are many blessings at
tached to the Stations outside of the
usual indulgence and _ hence one
would' profit by following the Sta
tions more than once In a day even
though you wuld not gain the in
dulgences.
Q. It is better to go to confession
to a priest who knows you or one
who is a stranger?
A. That is a matter 1 of personal
choice. Some delicate souls do not
care to have their confessor know
them. Rest assured it will not dis
turb the priest whether or not he
knows the penitent. If people real
ized how little the priest bothers
about the personality of his penitent
they would feel no fear in going to
confession to any priest. If you de
sire to go to a strange priest you
have that privilege. In the matter of
confession the Church gives the
wides latitude.
Q. If the Church had not permit
ted Henry VHI to marry Catherine
would it not have saved a lot of
trouble?
A. The Church granted the dispen
sation at the urgent request of the
young King. It is easy to make a
second guess. Probably had the
Church refused and Henry would
have married Catherine with the
same results. Then the enemies of
the Church would have blamed her
because she did not grant the dis
pensation. There was nothing so un
usual in the dispensation to ermit
marriage of a man with his deceased
brother’s wife. There was another
circumstance in this case. Catherine
had been married to Prince Arthur,
brother’s wife. Queen Catherine
declared that the marriage was never
consummated. Prince Arthur was a
sickly man and died young. Cathe
rine was only twenty-six years of age
when she married Henry on June 24,
1509. For twenty years Henry cherish
ed her, and she bore him five chil
dren, three boys and two girls. It
was only when Henry became
enamored of Anne Boleyn that trou
ble began. Henry tried to obtain a
divorce from Catherine, but his re"
quest of course, was refused by
Rome. Henry finally decided to
break with Rome and thus brought
on the gradual defection of England
from the Church. It is absurd and
illogical to blame the Church for the
lust of a dissolute King.
Q. Is there anything wrong in the
.science of astrology?
A. By astrology we mean knowl
edge of the stars. There is a real
science of the stars, called astronomy,
which treats of their motions, sizes,
distances and physical constitution.
There is also a false science, called
astrology, which investigates the
aspects of the planets, their relative
positions and their imagined in
fluence upon the destinies of men.
It is nothing more than divination of
stars. Divination has always been
condemned, and the faithful warned
against diviners in the Old Law and
in the New. Read the words of God’s
judgment upon Babylon in Isaias.
The Fathers cf the Church, from the
earliest cenuries, denounced it. The
progress of science in our days has
completely discredited judical astrol
ogy. There may be some truth in
natural astrology, which claims a na
tural influence upon tides, plant life,
and weather conditions, by the sun
and the planets. But the position
taken by Whateley, the Anglican
Archbishop of Dublin, is untenable in
the light of modern science, and in
contradiction to all the teaching of
the Catholic Church.
Q. Is it pennissable to receive Holy
Communion at midnight Mass if a
person has eaten,at ten?
A. The rules governing l h e
Eucharistic fast are no different on
Christmas than on any other day. It
is advised that those who would re
ceive Communion at midnight Mass
should observe a fast of a couple of
hours before midnight as a matter of
respect and in the spirit of the
Eucharistic fast. Should one eat or
drink before midnight there would be
no sin did they receive Holy Com
munion during the midnight Mass.
Q. What do you mean by the
hierarachy in the Church?
A. There is a twofold hierachy,
that of order and that of jurisdiction.
The former comprises all those who
are in sacred orders, namely, bishops,
priests, deacons, sub-deacons,
acolytes, exorcist?, lecters and porters.
The hierarachy of jurisdiction is
made up of all those who govern in
the- Church. They are, the _ Pope,
patriarchs, archbishops, bishops,
vicars apostolic, profects, apostolic,
pastors and rectors.
Q. Does the Catholic Church ex
communicate a Catholic who applies
for a divorce? Can the Sacraments
Dixie Musirtgs !
This is Catholic Press Month. Pope
Leo XIII said that “a Catholic news
paper is a perpetual mission in the
Catholic home.” Pope Pius X assert-
-ed: “In vain will you found missions
and build schools if you are not able
to wield the offenstoe and defensive
weapons of a loyal Catholic press. ’
Catholic newspapers have discontin
ued publication recently in St. Louis
Grand Rapids, Mich., Sacramento,
Cal., and Phoenix, Ariz., where Ca
tholics are more numerous than in
this section. What, are you doing to
help support the Catholic newspap.r
of the Southeast? There is no more
acceptable: time than the present. It
you are not a subscriber, send in
your check today. If you are, do you
not know some friend, layman,
priest or Sister, who would welcome
a subscription to The Bulletin from
you?
Rev. Lucian Ducie, C. P., of the
Passionist Fathers, Pittsburgh, gave a
mission at St. Mary’s-On-The-Hill,
Augusta, two weeks ago, and his ser
mons were reported extensively by
the Augusta newspapers. A reader
of one newspaper who objected to
Father Lucian’s belief in immortali
ty, also refused in his letter to the
newspaper to call him Father; to him
he was Mr. Ducie for he saw no au
thority in the Bible to call anyonc-
Father, or Reverend, or Doctor of
Divinity or Rabbi. One of our Au
gusta rivals of Will Rogers comments
that he has gone all through the
Scriptures and finds no more author
ity there for calling a man Mister.
Rev. Dr. William Russell Owen,
pastor of the First Baptist Church,
Columbus, formerly pastor at Macon
has left to become pastor of the
First Baptist Church at Asheville.
During his stay in Georgia The Bull
etin has had occasion to comment
approvingly on several of his utter
ances. The Columbus _ Enquirer-Sun
editorially refers to him as a “live
wire.” But we do not recall that
on that account he ever was shock
ing.
D, J. Callahan, supreme treasurer
of the Knights of Columbus, who in
stituted the Savannah Council nearly
thirty years ago, was a recent visi
tor in that city, and his visit recall
ed the personnel of the first class
initiated there. Bill Biffem in his
column in the Savannah Press as
serts that a number of members of
the class, including Col. M. J. O'
Leary and John J. Powers, were ini
tiated under a special dispensation,
owing to their youth.
But you can’t put too much reli
ance in what Bill Biffem says. The
last time the editor of The Bulletin
was in Savannah the farmers of the
Savannah—"district were meeting
there. Bill asserted in his column
that the writer was around the lob
by of the hotel trying to look like
a farmer. We don’t have to try.
The Echo of Buffalo asserts there
are still at least 6.000.000 slaves in the
world, most of them in Abyssinia,
Arabia and China. "A thriving bus
iness is still carried on kidnapping
negroes in Central Africa and driv
ing them to market.”
“Uncle Jim” Williams of Jie
Greensboro Herald-Journal says that
dying from natural causes in this day
and time means getting killed by an
automobile.
Editor E. H. Griffin of the Bain-
bridge Post-Searchlight, known in
Georgia Press Association and in
Montreal as Pat. discusses the action
of people of Warren County in re
fusing to allow Ben Davis Negro
Republican National Committeeman
from Georgia to speak there on
Emancipation Day. This, Editor
Griffin says, was a terrible blunder,
and for more reasons than one. “It
was the anniversary cf his freedom,
and the poorer eloss of white peo
ple were freed from shackled com
petition when the Negroes were
freed, and they have cause for joy
over the same action. Imagine If
you can the condition of the poorer
white folks if Negro slavery was in
vogue today.’ That is ' a neglected
but powerful thought.
Senator Grundy of Pennsylvania
has referred to the non-industrial
states as backward commonwealths.
The Philadelphia Record asserts it is
quite possible to label some states
more “backward” than others, “but
the question is as to the proper
standards of comparisons. Mr.
Grundy's tests are wealth and prop
erty.” But there are other tests, The
Record says, good government, for
instance, civic spirit, social idealism,
the level of general happiness and
well-being. And in this connection
it reminds the Senator that “Penn
sylvania and the Atlantic Seaboard
States have the highest infant mor
tality in the United States. In spite
of what your newly appointed Sen
ator says about ‘backward Western
and Southern States,’ they have a
lower infant mortality rate than you
do.’ Such, The Record intimates, is
the price of industrial leadership.
The Senator thought he was settling
the question of “backward states,”
“But he was just opening it up.”
he refused to snch party?
A. If a Catholic have sufficient
reason to get a divorce as a matter
of protection it would carry no penal
ty. Such action should not be taken
without the advice and consent of
ecclesiastical authority. It would
be a grievous sin for a Catholic to
seek a divorce with the intention to
marry another. There are conditions
under which the Church will permit
a legal separation but no one should
seek such action until they have con
sulted their confessor.