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SIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JANUARY 13, l r 34
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID, Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price 52,00 Per Year
Published monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation of the Most. Rev. Bishops of
Raleigh, Charleston, Savannah, St. Augustine, Mobile,
Natchez and Nashville and of the Rt. Rev. Abbot,
Ordinary of Belmont.
FOREIGN ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
George J. Callahan, 240 Broadway. New York
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1931-1932
ALFRED M. BATTEY, Augusta President
J. J. HAVERTY, K. S. G., Atlanta ...First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM, Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S. GRAY, Augusta .Treasurer
RICHARD REID, Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILE. FERRY. Augusta. Asst Publicity Director
Vol. XV.January 13, 1934,No. 1
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta, Ga., under act of March, 1879. Ac
cepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103, Act. of October 3, 1917, authorized
September 1, 1921.
TRADES CPU NCir>
The Last Straw
T HE American people are notoriously long-suffering.
There is no more striking example of their patience
than their attitude toward the type of motion pictures all
too common in our theatres.
The climax has been reached by the showing of a
“nudist” picture. In the public’s attitude toward motion
pictures, patience has long since ceased to be a virtue.
Now it begins to be a crime.
The argument of certain motion picture producers that
they are giving the public what it wants is a gratuitous
insult to the intelligence and the morals of the people
of the United States; the box office returns of Dressier,
Rogers, Coogan and pictures like “Little Women” and
“The White Sister” conclusively demonstrate that these
producers are forcing the fruits of their immoral and de
praved tastes on the American public.
The public, however, is to be blamed for its supine
ness. It is impossible to believe that any considerable
portion of our population approves of the vicious pro
ductions which are of their very nature corroding, and
which stir the basest passions of persons of weaker char
acter in such a way as to constitute them physical as well
as moral menaces.
The refusal of President-Emeritus A. Lawrence Lowell
of Harvard University to serve on the motion picture
code authority because of his belief that he would not
be able to effect the establishment of a proper moral
standard for pictures has directed public attention to
the “block-booking” and “blind buying” system which
he condemns and to which he attributes the demoraliz
ing effects of motion pictures especially on the youth
and the children of the land.
We are of the opinion that most of the managers and
operators of local theatres would prefer respectable pic
tures, but are victims of the system. There is but one
way to change the situation, and that is by an expres
sion of the indignation which normal people feel at the
type of picture foisted on them.
There is only one influence in the United States cap
able of effectively taking the lead in the campaign to
make the motion pictures proper entertainment for the
family again, and that is the Catholic Church. It is a
campaign to be conducted vigorously and reasonably.
It is getting under way in other parts of the United
States. The Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia
urges its members and the Catholic organizations in this
state and section to lend their hid and influence to the
campaign, in which His Excellency, the Apostolic Dele
gate, has sounded the keynote. Protest these immoral
pictures, as individuals and through your organizations,
whenever your local theatres show them. Let the man
agers know that you are not patronizing them. That is
a language the producers will understand when it is re
layed to them.
Russia Recognized
P RESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S highmindedeness and
sincerity of purpose are universally conceded, but
we are fearful that when the United States recognized
the Soviet Republic we sold our heritage for a mess of
pottage.
Nineteen centuries of experience have taught the
Church that in nations as well as in individuals, future
conduct may be largely gauged by the past.
The Church has had extended contacts with the So
viet on a dozen fronts, and her experience is not such
as to warrant confidence that the Soviet is ready to
meet one of the fundamental requirements of her
recognition by sister nations, keeping its word.
President Roosevelt delayed recognition, newspaper
accounts of the negotions with Litvinof excitedly as
serted, pending a promise that citizens of the United
States in Russia would be accorded religious liberty.
A statement by the Soviet representative, sent out by
the TASS, the Soviet press agency subsequent to recogni
tion, and quoted in an article by Father LaFarge in
America, blandly states that when President Roosevelt
insisted on the point, “I exclaimed the existing laws con
cerning religion.”
In an interview with press representatives after se
curing recognition of Russia and before sailing for
Europe, Litvinof said, according to The New York Times:
“In my communication to President Roosevelt I limit
ed myself to sending him an abstract of existing Russian
legislation bearing on religious bodies, but I made con
cessions to no one.”
At a dinner given him by the American-Russian
Chamber of Commerce in New York, Litvinof, said:
“The President submitted me to a kind of religious
propaganda, and I in my turn tried to persuade him of
the soundness of certain principles expressed in the will
of a famous American, Stephen Girard, who thought it
best to exclude all ecclesiastical activities from the col
lege which he founded in Philadelphia.”
In recognizing Russia, President Roosevelt could not
have been actuated primarily by trade reasons. To say
that the Soviet was recognized so that it might buy goods
with money secured from the United States is to impugn
the President’s intelligence.
Deeper reasons of state prompted the act. Hie prompt
repudiation by the Soviet representative of the religious
liberty guarantee for U. S. citizens in Russia, and the
patent insincerity on other points as well, confirm the
fears of those who were opposed to recognition of the
Soviet. We hope that the Soviet will reform. But rea
son and experience give us little or no basis for the hope.
Dixie Musings
If it is not too late, and it is never
too late, we wish you a blessed, happy
and prosperous New Year.
Christmas in Georgia would have
made a delightful Fourth of July
north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The
official reading of the thermometer
in Augusta was 78 in the shade, with
similar temperatures,elsewhere in the
Southeast.
Catholics among them, who believe
that the Church ought to do some
muzzling—of those expressing opin
ions not in accord with theirs.
En Route to Canossa
W 1ATEVER one may think about the professors in
the administration, it can hardly, be doubted that
A knowledge of history on the part of those in power
would be a mighty blessing to many a nation, past and
present.
The Roman Empire directed all its resources toward
-the crushing of the Church. The Roman Empire is gone,
and the Church remains. Julian the Apostate may never
have uttered the much quoted: “Thou hast conquered,
O Galileean,” but the fact that Christ conquered remains.
Henry IV, “Holy Roman Emperor” sought to overwhelm
the Papacy, and Henry went to Canossa. Bismarck
boasted that in his efforts against the Church he would
never go to Canossa; he did. Viviani swore that he would
blot the name of God from the heavens; Viviani and his
cohorts are gone, and the churches of Paris can hardly
accomodate the throngs which surge into them for Mass,
By defying the Church with his anti-Christian sterili
zation program, Herr Hitler has taken his place with its
other current antagonists. It has been said that Hitler
is a Catholic. “By its fruits you shall know it.” No
Catholic mind could bring forth such fruit. If Hitler
knew history, he would realize the foolishness as Well
as the immorality of his program, and Germany and the
world would be happier.
Fifty years from now Hitler will have been swallowed
It Isn’t So
C ATHOLICS are unceasingly reminded of the wisdom
of Josh Billings’ remark that not knowing does not
do as much harm as knowing so many things that are
not so.
At Kinston, N. C., recently, for instance, the Rev.
Harold J. Dudley, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church, discussed the Reformation and the Catholic
Church in a sermon in which he said that “Christian
grace prompts us not to harbor malice against the great
Catholic Church because of past feuds and present dif
ferences. Rather, we should be grateful for the con
tribution that church has made toward Christianizing
the world, and we should bear in mind that, however
chaotic the birth, Protestantism was conceived in the
Roman Catholic Church.” That at least indicates
kindly spirit.
A moment later Dr. Dudley referred to “Protestants,
said by the Roman Catholic Church to be lost because we
are not members of that church”, if he is correctly quot
ed by the Kinston Press. The Kingston Press, in an edi-
torial commending Dr. Dudley’s spirit of tolerance, says:
Indeed, there isn’t much malice in religion any longer.
The Catholic may contend that the Protestant is damned,
but he doesn’t hate him as he once did.”
Dr. Dudley and the Kinston Press are more tolerant
than they give themselves credit for being. If they
harbor no prejudice in the hearts against Catholics
when they believe that Catholics think they are destined
to be damned, they no doubt will be more than tolerant
when they are informed that Catholics believe no such
thing about sincere members of any denomination.
If Dr. Dudley or the editor of the Kinston Press were
to ask any little child in the Catholic schools or Sunday
schools of North Carolina what the teaching of the
Church is on that point, he would be told, in the words
of the catechism: “All are bound to belong to the
Church, and he who knows the Church to be the true
Church and remains out of it cannot be saved.”
Again: The textbook on religion used in most Catholic
colleges states it as a proposition in this way: “All who
come to a sufficient knowledge of the Church of Christ
are by divine precept obliged to become members.”
Whether one has a sufficient knowledge of the Church
to oblige him to become a member is a matter between
a man’s conscience and his God. One who sincerely at
tributes to Catholics the belief that all but Catholics are
ipso facto damned can hardly be said to have the re
quired knowledge.
Those from colder climes may be
astonished to know that the coming
of Christmas invariably starts a de
bate on whether the sale of fireworks
should be permitted. They were
legalized this year in Augusta, with
unfortunate results. But there will
be no more fireworks of that type
here until next Christmas. No, we
do not have them on the Fourth of
July. ,
The NRA does not antedate the
CLA, but we believe it is as sound
in principle. It has much the same
objective: A better feeling among
all citizens, irrespective of the in
terests that divide them.
“The King (Henry II of England)
only said: ‘Will no one rid me of
this insolvent priest?’ and immediate
ly he was rid of him (Thomas A.
Becket, murdered at the altar)’—
Arthur Brisbane, as quoted in The
Augusta Chronicle.
“One message to the officials of the
Armenian Church”, says The New
York Times, “was from Bishop William
T. Manning, who offered prayers for
the soul of the Archbishop, and for
the Bishops, clergy and people of
the Armenian Apostolic Church at
yesterday morning’s service in the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine.” Dr.
Manning is the Protestant Episcopal
Bishop of New York.
On the Catholic teaching of the
effectiveness of prayers for the dead
there are three schools of thought in
certain Protestant circles: (1) That it
is a superstition; (2) That it i s a
racket; (3) That it is a combination
of both. In which category do they
place Bishop Manning?
An American who toured the Bal
kans by motorcycle reports that he
was always warned that the people
in the next city were cut throats and
robbers,but when he arrived in that
city the inhabitants expressed sur
prise that he had not been killed in
the place from which he had just
come. And yet they say there is no
place like home. ,
A clipping from a recent issue of
The London Daily Times, under the
heading, “Today’s Anniversaries”,
says: “1777. At Germantown, Penn
sylvania, the Americans, under Wash
ington, were repulsed by the British.”
Will someone kindly send us a copy
of the issue recording the anniver
sary of Yorktown?
“No Alimony in Two Years, Ex-
Ruler’s Ex-Wife to Be Nun”, says a
headline in a Georgia newspaper.
The ex-ruler is the former boy em
peror of China, and the wife is to
become a “Buddhist nun”. Those
who were thrilled with the prospect of
a scandal about a nun found none.
Throngs seeking to attend Mid
night Mass Christmas at Notre Dame
des Champs in Paris were so great
that the police were called out to
handle them; only a fraction was able
to enter. Scandalized Americans
make the mistake of judging Paris
by what they see at places supported
by Americans on a holiday, and
which normal Parisians shun.
Hon. Josephus Daniels, United
States Ambassador to Mexico, who
has been discussed pro and con in
these columns—mostly pro, we are
happy to say—again, in our opinion,
merits commendation. Speaking on
Thanksgiving Day in Mexico City, he
said:
“While we give thanks for food,
money and lodging, we give thanks
even more for the fact that a new
revolution by pacific means is ad
vancing toward a world in which
each man will aid his neighbor, in
which each country will respect the
viewpoints of its neighbors as well
as their just rights, and in which
Justice and Peace, as foretold by the
Frince of Peace, wiH cover the earth
as the waters cover the sea.”
“Machine-Gun Kelly”, who is
giving that illustrious Celtic name so
much notoriety, is really George F.
Barnes of Memphis, letters in news
papers tell us. But Ireland will get
credit for him v/hen crime statistics
of aliens are compiled.
Again, addressing the Pan-Ameri
can Round Table, he said: “If I am
prohibited from speaking on religion,
I may still declare that the most
heroic spirits since the days in which
the first Christians defied the power
of Imperial Rome, to this epoch, have
been those who have sensed strange
things and ways beyond the eartn,
and who have held the belief that
every Christian is in truth a citizen
of a foreign country, of a celestial
kingdom, and who believe that after
death each one of them will enter
into that mansion which was not built
by human hands and which is eternal
in the heavens.
Ambassador Daniels had better be
careful about placing the Kingdom of
Heaven above the United States. The
one hundred per cent Americans will
get him if he doesn’t watch out.
It was said of the Bourbons of
France that they never forgot any
thing and never learned anything.
Father Frederick Siedenbrug, S. J.,
of the University of Detroit, thinks
we have some Bourbons in the United
States. “Many of our industrialists
are as insensible as the aristocracy
of France who, before the French
Revolution, scoffed at the warning of
Rousseau, but the second edition of
whose book was bound in their
hides.” They do not realize, Father
Siendenburg says, that the president’s
program for a living wage for em
ployes, shorter hours and collective
bargaining is to the advantage of the
employer also.
The most distinguished bearer of
the name of Kelley in the South is
the Bishop of Oklahoma City, who
said recently: “I am foolish enough
to believe that there is a very close
relation between the problem of ‘the
forgotten God’ and the newspapers’
‘Forgotten Man’. In fact, I hold that
the more God becomes ‘the forgotten’,
the more surely man becomes
neglected and degraded.”
The Rt. Rev. Msgr John A. Ryan,
D. D., of the Catholic University of
American asserts that at the present
rate of births, the United States will
reach a maximum population in 1945,
remain stationary for a decade, and
then decline. And what will mass
production do then, poor thing?
An article on motion picture stars
and their Christmas day programs
said: “Mae West will rest, after at
tending an early Mass.” She can at
tend three a day and not qualify for
a Catholic “Who’s Who.”
The only way to overcome our
economic ills is by raising the gen
eral level of human character, For
mer Governor Smith writes the
United Chamber of Commerce. Only
religion can raise the general level
of human character, and religion can
be effective only through religious
education.
Many good people were disturbed
by Mr. Smith’s comment on the re
covery program. We doubt that
President Roosevelt feels that way;
we believe he will endeavor to profit
by it.
up by time like a pebble in the ocean. And the Papacy
and its divine principles will still be guiding the lives of
men.
“We shall not condemn A1 Smith
for criticizing the administration re
covery program,” nays the Sylvester,
Ga., Local, quoted by the Cuthbert.
Ga., Leader. “We believe much of
the program has merit. Much of it
we approach with misgivings. The
time has come for constructive criti
cism ... It is time for thoughtful
men like A1 Smith to break their
silence before it is too late.”
The spirited exchange of comments
between Governor Smith and Father
Coughlin, with the other forceful
opinions by members of the clergy,
prelates included, and laity on both
sides ought to prove to thoughtful
people the ridiculousness of the im
pression that Catholics are muzzled
by file Church.
The Catholic Information Society
of Narberth, Pa., in a recent leaflet
disposes of a difficulty which worries
many good people. St. Patrick's Day
came on Friday . In New York Ca
tholics were allowed to eat meat. In
Philadelphia they were not. “Yet the
laws of the Catholic Church are sup
posed to be unchangeable throughout
the ages!”
No, they are not. The ten com
mandments are unchangeable. God’s
laws are immutable. The laws of the
Church can be changed by the same
authority which made them: Bishops
may dispense individuals or their en
tire Diocese from certain laws where
the Church which made the laws
gives them the authority.
Ride three in a frpnt seat in an
automobile in Connecticut, and you
may face the judge the next morning.
You can do it with impunity in Geor
gia. Yet both Georgia and Connecti
cut are parts of the United States.
But murder is against the law in both
states.
Even Catholics sometimes profess to
be confused and even scandalized be
cause the authorities of one Diocese,
find it expedient to make regulations
differing from those of other Dio
ceses; yet they find no difficulty in
understanding that it is a violation
of the law to drive a car without a
driving license in New York or
Massachusetts, while in Georgia any
one who is sober, sane and sixteen is
allowed to drive.
John Gibbons, writing in the Lon
don Universe, says that in Washing
ton he not only saw a nun driving
an automobile, but that “my private
impression was that the Holy Sister
was spending”. Perhaps according to
There are plenty of people, some the English idea of motion she was.