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SIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
APRIL 28, 1934
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID, Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price $2.00 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. April 28, 1934 N° 4
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service the Catholic Press
Association of the United States, the Georgia Press
Association and the National Editorial Association.
Entered as second class matter June 15, J® 21 ’, at i«7o *4^*
Office at Augusta, Ga„ under act of March, 1879. Ac
cented for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103, Act. of October 3, 1917, authorized
September 1, 1921. --
A Notable Jubilee
O N the occasion of the silver jubilee of AMERICA,
the Catholic Weekly Review edited in New York,
the Holy Father expressed felicitation cm the good it has
accomplished during the quarter of a century now com
pleted.
The Holy Father’s felicitations are supplemented by
others from every part of the United States and the
world, and no congratulations are more cordial than
those from THE COMMONWEAL, THE CATHOLIC
WORLD and others in the Catholic magazine and review
field. . - . ^
“There has been no field of Catholic action and en
deavor in which AMERICA has not rendered distin
guished service,” the Holy Father says. Particularly has
it been a champion of Christian education, an exponent
of Catholic philosophy and doctrine, an ardent advocate
of the standards of Cliristian morality and the sanctity
of the home and family, a staunch supporter of social
justice as taught in the Encyclicals of the Sovereign Pon-
tHfs, and an informative source of the best in literature
and art.
Edited and conducted by the Jesuit Fathers, AMERICA
has been foremost in the encouragement of Catholic lay
action, and its development of writers who have become
capable defenders of the Church and exponents of Cath-
ilic teaching through the printed world is in itself enough
to merit the gratitude of American Catholics. May its
next quarter of a century even surpass in achievement
the glorious record of its first 25 yers under the able
leadership of Father Wynne, Father Tierney, Father
Parsons and their associates, not forgetting our own Fa
ther Michael Kenny, of Spring Hill College, a member
of the first editorial staff organized in 1909.
The Right of Self-Defense
I N the early days of the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia no argument was used oftener in an effort
to increase prejudice against Catholics than their “lack
of patriotism”, this despite the distinguished record of
Catholics in the World War and in every Other war in
which this country has been engaged.
The Macon News in its April 13 issue editorially dis
cusses an article by an official of a Protestant organiza
tion, writing in an official publication for Protestant
young people, in which opposition to military service in
the event of war is advocated.
The article a'dvises young people in the event of draft
not to be conscientious objectors and go to prison, but
to “accept the draft, take the drill, go into the camps and
on to the battlefields, or into the munition factories and
transportation work—but sabotage war. Be agitators for
sabotage. Down tools when the order is to make and
load munitions. Spoil war materials and machinery.
“If thinking realistically in this way you shrink back
because you see that it means deceit, lies by word and
deed, the answer is that if you choose the ‘honorable’
way of patriotism, then also will you have to lie and de
ceive—that’s a part of war.”
There is no force in the world doing such effective
work for the promotion of peace as the Catholic Church.
None,deplores and abhors war more. But it is Catholic
teaching that self-defense is a natural right, and that,
much as breaches of the peace are to be deplored, one
may repel an unjust aggressor. The right of a nation to
defend itself is an extension of the right to self-defense.
To take the position that war is never defensible would
be to abandon Christian civilization to the ravages of
the forces of atheism now arraying their ranks for new
conquests to dangle beside Russia, but which, we hope
and pray, are already. effectively retarded in their bloody
ambitions.
It is not possible to believe that the writer of the ar
ticle quoted represents any considerable faction even of
the denomination sponsoring the publication which
printed it, but one may well imagine the apoplectic de
nunciations and demands for exclusion from citizenship
the appearance of any such article in a Catholic publica
tion would occasion in certain circles which are elo
quently silent under this provocation.
Motion Picture Progress
I N recent months the protests of the Church through
the pulpit, the press and other channels against the
character of pictures which have debased the screen have
started to bring national results, to the relief, we believe,
of most local theater managers.
“Variety,” a threatrical publication, in its April 10 issue
runs a front-page “streamer” over the story of the “con
certed effort by the National Catholic Welfare Confer
ence to clean up the pictures.”
In the Diocese of Raleigh, the Most Rev. William J.
Hafey, D.D., has inaugurated a systematic effort to ele
vate the tone of the motion pictures, particularly through
the formation in various cities of “Christian Morality
Committees” which, with the counsel of the pastor, pro
test offensive and commend worthy productions.
The president of the Motion Picture Theater Owners
of America in a recent address to his organization said:
“I cannot refrain from voicing the emphatic protest of
our organization and its membership against the inde
cencies that are allowed to creep into pictures in in
creasing numbers of late. Most of these indecencies have
nothing to do with the story and in many instances are
crude vulgarity and must be stopped. . . . Our inves
tigation has proved to us that the best method of inter
esting the public and bringing them to the box office is to
advertise our product in the newspapers. Clean and
truthful advertising pays.”
The Bulletin notes with encouragement the recognition
the motion picture industry is giving the efforts of the
Catholic pulpit and press. The industry has made sim
ilar gestures before. To make the present effort effec
tive the pulpit and press must have the support of every
Catholic organization, of individual Catholics, in pro
tests to the local management of objectionable pictures
and in making these protests felt in the box office. There
is no more effective argument than a refusal to patronize
any but clean films. Let your local theater manager
know of your objections when it shows objectionable
films, and of your approval of meritorious productions it
presents.
The Church and Scholarship
» r THERE are various ways of classing people. In their
J[ attitude toward Catholics, for instance, they may be
grouped into those who do not like the Church because
it is not intellectual and those who love her because
she is.
Dr. John H. Finley in the New York Times reviews
John Gade’s recent work on Cardinal Mercier. The Car
dinal was such a zealous Catholic that he became a priest,
such an exemplary priest that he was made a Bishop, and
such a distinguished Bishop that Rome made him a Car
dinal. Here is Dr. Finley’s conception of him:
“Things intellectual and spiritual were to him the
precious realities. He had Latin at his tongue’s end as
well as his French. Aristotle, Socrates and Plato were
familiar to him in their own tongue. He knew Huxley,
Spencer and Darwin in English, and Kant, Schopenhauer
and Fichte in German. But his chief resource was St.
Thomas Acquinas, and to his philosophy he devoted him
self with the purpose of correlating the new science and
the old philosophy. He studied the sciences, saying in
search of men to work with him in his Institute, ‘Give
me masters we can scientifically teach religion and re
ligiously teach science’. The experiences of the war cast
their glory back over the intellectual and spiritual
struggles and sacred ministers of these earlier years,
which might else never have been known to the world.
But it was in those years that he qualified himself to
join the company of the saints.”
What is there in the Catholic Church that impels the
Merciers and countless other intellectual giants not only
to give assent to its teachings, but to give their lives to
its service. (The simplicity of Cardinal Mercier’s life
“would not have satisfied an American mechanic”, John
Glade writes.) Those who do not know owe it to them
selves to find out.
In Shelby County, Tennessee, with Memphis as its
county seat, seventeen hundred couples were married
and twelve hundred couples divorced this year. Ancient
Rome or Bolshevik Russia can hardly present a more
demoralizing record than that.
Myopiaism
W HEN the Reds create a minor disturbance in New
York, clubbing at the hands of the police is re
garded as too good for them; this country, says the press,
would be well rid of such diabolical characters.
But when these same Reds attempt to seize the reigns
of government in a Catholic country or in a country
where the government is headed by a Catholic, and the
government proceeds as our government does in such
circumstances, this same press in many instances sud
denly sees these same Reds as angels of light.
One gathers from many of the stories about the sup
pression of the uprising in Austria, for instance, that
the Reds were waiting for street cars to take them home
to the wife and kiddies when along came the blood
thirsty police; fortunately the Reds happened to be
equipped with machine guns, tanks and bombs.
It is but a repetition of the old, old story of many mem.
bers of Christian denominations preferring the triumph
of any element, however, disreputable, if that triumph
means a set-back for the Christian, Catholic Church,
which will yet save Christendom from the rising tide
of anti-religious Bolshevism, just as Jn another age it
rolled back the devastating hosts of Mohammedanism.
Dixie Musings
Dr. Hrdlicka in his “Anthropology
of Florida”, says that the name of
the Suwanee River in Florida is de
rived from San Juan (Wan), the
name of the Franciscan Mission set
tlement for the Indians there. So
our friend, Father Michael Kenny, S.
J., of Spring Hill College, writes to
the Fortnightly Review.
Ken Kimbel, writing in the Macon
News, tells of a youngster who didn’t
want to say his prayers at night.
“You should say your prayers every
night and thank God for sparing your
life all day,” his mother told him.
“Well,” he objected, “don’t I pay
Him? Don't I give Him pennies
every Sunday at church?"
Such childish reasoning Is unfor
tunately not confined to children.
One of our Atlanta readers tells us
of a minister who in a recent ser
mon was laying down a formula for
salvation. “Why,” he exclaimed en
thusiastically, “even the Pope of
Rome could be saved by following
that formula.”
It is a very real indication of prog
ress when some folks will admit that
the Pope of Rome can be saved under
any circumstances.
The editorial in the previous issue
of The Bulletin on the opposition of
leaders-of Scottish Rite Masonry like
John Cowles to Catholic schools, and
their backing of efforts to outlaw
them, has prompted some healthy
discussion. There are officials and
members of this group who regard
Catholic reaction to any such pro
gram as evidence of “intolerance”,
their idea of tolerance being that
Catholics should sit down and let
their rights be taken away from them
without protest. But most persons in
or out of Masonry are, we are confi
dent, willing to do us justice when
they know the facts.
The Protestant Episcopal clergy of
South Carolina held a retreat at St.
Stephen’s Church, St. Stephen, Berk
eley County.
Out in Illinois a minister, serving a
sentence for shooting his janitor af
ter a dispute, is up for parole, and a
leader in the parole movement is the
Catholic pastor at Pekin, 111., the
Rev. H. V. O’Brien, formely a neigh
bor of the minister.
Because the color of employes of
the defendant company was brought
up by the plaintiff in a Savannah
case, the judge declared a mistrial.
The Savannah Press reports that
the number of newspapers in the
United States decreased by 212 in
1933. Not one Catholic newspaper
was among them, we are pleased to
say.
But we have no assurance that we
can make as satisfactory a report a
year from now if many of those now
in arrears do not pay up their sub
scriptions.
And wouldn’t that be a black eye
for the NRA. A worse record in 1934
than in 1933!
Now that you know your patriotic
duty, you will, of course, do it. The
Bulletin’s address is Augusta, Ga.
Editor Joseph J. Quinn, of the
Southwest Courier, down in Okla
homa, after giving deep thought to
the subject, arrives at the conclusion
that Samuel Insull is fed up on Tur
key.
But not as much as the United
States and the citizens thereof is fed
up on Samuel.
What particularly aggravates Sam
uel, we imagine, is the number of
highly-respected citizens who tried
his methods and got away with them
and we are now indignantly demand
ing his conviction and imprisonment.
The Rev. Dr. W. P. King, editor of
the Christian Advocate, “official pub
lication for Southern Methodism,”
aserts, according to an Associated
Press story dated April 5, that “a gun
captured by the British and now on
display in England had on one side
an inscription telling of the bravery
of the English troops that captured
it and on the other the name of the
English manufacturer who made it
and sold it to the Germans.”
T. Harry Garrett, principal of the
Tubman School, public high school
for girls, in a Pan-American Day ad
dress before the Augusta Rotary
Club, placed a large share of the
blame for uprisings in South Ameri
can republics on munitions manufac
turers.
The Rev. Dr. Daniel A. Poling, pre
sident of the World Christian Endea
vor Union, in an address in Atlanta
inaugurating a “Youth for Christ”
movement, said: “Only through true
Christianity can we deal with and
conquer such matters as the liquor
problem and the economic problem.”
Doctor Poling is one hundred per
cent correct. It now remains only
for the world to discover true Chris
tianity. B
Churches teaching that Christ is
God and that Christ is not God cannot
both be true. Nor can that church
be true which teaches in some of its
pulpits that Christ is God and in
others that He is not.
Countless thousands of persons
starting with this logical line of rea
soning have thought themselves into
the Catholic Church. People who
know nothing about the Catholic
Church wonder why.
The Dalton Citizen remarks that
“The Chicago Tribune tore off two
or three shirts during the past year
about free speech” and yet has been
as silent as a hen-pecked husband on
news which might tend indirectly to
deplete its revenue.
The Catholic Press has no right to
exist, a court in Prussia rules. If
this ruling could be made universal
and effective it would save some
folks a lot of time trying to find ex
cuses not to subscribe.
They might then have a very real
excuse—no job and no money, both
gone because the anti-Catholic press’
efforts to make Catholics outcasts re
ligiously, economically, politically
and socially would succeed like an
autumn forest fire before a high
wind, in the absence of a Catholic
press to oppose it.
The sun shines On both the just and
unjust, and the blessings of the work
of the Catholic Press are shared both
by those who support it and those
who do not. But it isn’t nice to walk
through a revolving door and let the
other fellow do all the pushing.
These sly little subscription digs in
“Dixie Musings” really do not bring
any startling results. They remind
us of the little boy who was scream
ing at the top of his voice. A passer
by asked him what was ailing him. “I
want my mother to take me to the
movies.” “Does she take you to the
movies when you yell like that?”
“Sometimes she does and sometimes
she doesn’t, but it ain’t any trouble
to yelL”
And about the sun shining on both
the just and the unjust, we are re
minded that it rains on both the
just and unjust. But a cynic suggests
that the unjust usually have um-
"brellas.
The newspapers carry stories about
the Holy Father “making” saints of
persons renowned for their holiness
of life. The Holy Father, of course,
makes a saint of no one. These illus
trious personages, illustrious for
sanctity and not necessarily for po
sition, made saints of themselves
through the grace of God. The Holy
Father merely proclaims that they
are saints, his pronouncement of
cannonbation being attested by evi
dence of* holiness and of miracles.
Fortune, perhaps America’s most
magnificent magazine, recently had
an extended article on the miracles
of Lourdes. The article ends by
quoting Father LaFarge, S. J., who
says that to those who believe in God
no explanation of miracles is neces
sary; to those who do not believe, no
explanation is possible.
We never met Frank Reynolds, a
widely known Georgian, whose home
in recent years, was in Atlanta, and
who died recently, but we wish to
add a word of tribute to those ap
pearing in the press of the state. Mr.
Reynolds was not a Catholic, but on
numerous occasions he stopped long
enough in his busy life to write to
Georgia newspapers to explain his
vigorous disapproval of some exam
ple of intolerance to which his atten
tion was directed.
A Literary Digest poll on crooners
shows 64 votes for them and 9,636
against them. The country is catch
ing up with Cardinal O’Connell, who
expressed his distaste for them long,
long ago. And was made a target by
some smart newspapermen for his
advanced views.
The Literary Digest, by the way, in
its April 14 issue, reproduces, with
due credit, a story from these col
umns on Bishop Candler. We first
read it in Georgia newspapers. We
have since been informed that it is
told also on the late Archbishop
Ryan, of Philadelphia. Perhaps on
this point their minds both ran in
the same channel.
It was about an uncouth individual
who planted himself beside the pre
late on a train, remarked that the
prelate’s face looked familiar, and
said: “Where in hell have I seen you
before?” “I don’t know,” was the
answer. “What part of hell are you
from?”
The Most Rev. Bishop of Harris
burg, Bishop McDevitt, who was
Archbishop Ryan’s superintendent of
schools, on a trip through Pennsyl
vania several years ago gave us nu
merous examples of Archbishop
Ryan’s humor. About the “smart
aleck” agnostic, for instance, who told
him of a tribe of savages in the South
Seas who hanged a monkey with
every prelate they hanged. Said the
Archbishop: “It’s indeed fortunate
for both of us that we are not there.