Newspaper Page Text
TWENTY
THE BULLETIN OF-THE CATHOLIC L AYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
DECEMBER 21, 1935
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ ol the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID. Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price $2,00 Pei Yeai
Published monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation ot the Most Rev Bishops ol
Raleigh Charleston Savannah St Augustine and Nash
ville and of rhe Rt Rev Abbot Ordinary of Belmont
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1935-1936
ALFRED M BATTEY Augusta ... President
3 3 HA.VERTY K S G. Atlanta ...First Vice-President
3 B McCALLtJM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S 3RAY Augusta .. . Treasurer
RICHARD REID Augusta Publicity Director
TtrToc —■prut it 5Vpov Aovrista Asst Publicity Du*pctnf
V 1 December 21, 1935, No. 12
Member of N C W C News Service the Catholic Press
Association of the United States the Georgia Press
Accu-iation and the National Editorial Association
Entered as second class matter June 15. 1921 at the Post
Office at Augusta. Ga. under act of March 1879 Ac
cepted for mailine at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103. Act of October 3. 1917. authorized
Senterr<b“r 1 1921
The Bishop-Elect of Savannah
O NE hundred and three years ago, when the illus
trious Bishop- John England was at the height of
his gigantic intellectual powers in the See of Charles
ton, his contemporary, Bishop Kenrick, conferred the
Sacrament of Holy Orders on the Rev. Francis X, Gart-
land at St. Mary’s in Philadelphia, the second priest or
dained for that See. Eighteen years later Father Gart-
land was consecrated Bishop of Savannah, and in the
four years which intervened before yellow fever
heroicly contracted in the line of duty struck him
down, he laid the foundations of the See of the Empire
State of the South.
Today, as the Diocese of Savannah comes within strik
ing distance of its centenary, Georgia again becomes a
beneficiary of Phi’adelphia, which, in obedience to the
will of the Sovereign Pontiff, sends us its brilliant Aux
iliary who, in the six years since his consecration has
become universally known as one of the most able mem
bers of the American hierarchy.
The See of Savannah is in point of Catholic popula
tion among the smaller of the Dioceses of the United
States; in distinction of her Bishops, she is among the
first. Her first two Bishops, Gartland and Barry, “laid
down their lives for their sheep”, broken by yellow
fever. Her third Ordinary was the saintly Sulpician,
Bishop Verot, who was called to preside over the new
Diocese of St. Augustine. Her fourth, a gentle son of
St. Francis, Bishop Persico, died a Cardinal'in Rome, and
his Redemptorist successor, Bishop Gross, became Arch
bishop of Oregon City and Metropolitan of the North
west.
Savannah's sixth Ordinary, Bishop Becker, another
native of Pennsylvania, came from Philadelphia’s neigh
boring See of Wilmington, which he likewise filled with
distinction, and his successor was the venerable Bishop
Keiley of happy memory, one of the ornaments of the
American hierarchy. The Society of Mary then gave
the beloved Bishop Keyes to the Diocese, and he in
turn gave the See a reign of thirteen peaceful, fruitful,
happy and blessed years.
It is with hearts filled with gratitude to His Holiness
and to Him Who guides the Sovereign Pontiff that the
Diocese of Savannah learned that the burdens laid down
in ill health by their gentle, Christ-like Bishop are to
be taken up by the kindly, able Auxiliary to His Emi
nence, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Philadelphia.
The great qualities of mind and heart which led His
Eminence to select His Excellency as worthy to make
his studies in Rome as equipped for higher studies, as
competent for unusual duties even as a young priest,
and as having the great capacity required for vicar-
general and other offices of the great Archdiocese after
His Holiness had singled him out for episcopal dignity,
make the CSiurch in Georgia realize its continued good
fortune in the character and distinction of its Bishops.
Coming from a great metropolis and center of Catho
lic population, Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar-General of
an Archdiocese of nearly a million souls and from a
church with over ten thousand parishoners of record.
His Excellency nevertheless is not unacquainted with the
missionary problems of a Diocese like that of Savan
nah; there are counties in the See of Philadelphia with
conditions not unlike those in most of the one hundred
and sixty counties in Georgia.
To His Excellency we may say that he will receive
a most cordial welcome in Georgia not only from his
predecessor, his clergy, his religious and those of the
household of the faith, but from all Georgia. He will
find here a devoted priesthood, zealous religious, a
loyal. Catholic-minded laity, with peace and charity,
the characteristic of our retiring Bishop, permeating the
Diocese. He will find the foundations of the Diocese
solidly laid in parishes, schools, orphanages, hospitals.
Catholic Action and pious organizations and other in
dices of strong Catholic life, and the future of the
Diocese bursting with promise.
The Diocese of Savannah will find His Excellency
eminently fitted for the mighty work challenging the
Church in Georgia. Of distinguished ability, a pro
found scholar, radiating Christian charity, the personi
fication of priestly zeal, his spiritual kinship to our be
loved retiring Bishop may be gauged by his prayer when
consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia: “That
God may give me grace to be ever humble, ever docile,
ever obedient, ever devoted to Christ and His Church.”
May God grant His Excellency many a long, happy,
blessed and fruitful decade in this corner of His Vine
yard. Ad Multos Annas.
The Church in North Carolina
T HE BULLETIN is ever pleased to record in its pages
evidence of the progress of the Church, especially
in the South. On the occasion of the resignation of
the beloved Bishop of Savannah, it recalled the ad
vance made in this Diocese since the holy oils of epis
copal consecration annointed him. It has emphasized
evidences of growth in the Dioceses of Charleston and
St. Augustine from time to time.
It is with a feeling of gratification, therefore, that it
presents in this issue the compelling indications of the
magnificent progress of the Church in North Carolina
under the inspiring leadership of His Excellency, Bishop
Hafey, since the erection of the Diocese one short decade
ago.
The Diocese of Raleigh, which includes all of North
Carolina but the territory of the Abbey Nullius, might
well have been regarded as one of the least promising
fields in all the United States. There were fewer Cath
olics in proportion to the total population than anywhere
in the nation, fewer than in China. The financial re
sources were correspondingly meagre. Priests were few,
and yet more numerous than parishes able to support
them.
Bishop Hafey regarded his new field not as unpromis
ing but as a mighty challenge. He was conscious of the
heroic labors of the pioneer priests, secular and Bene
dictine. He was aware of the loyalty of the clergy,
religious and laity. He had confidence in the inherent
fairness and intelligence of the people of the state not
of the household of the faith. He had faith in the
spirit of charity of Catholics in the great centers of the
nation.
The results of these ten years of labor are not cover
ed but merely indicated in these pages. It is an inspir
ing story; it is one which merits special emphasizing in
any future history of the Church in America. It is a
story by which all Catholics, and particularly those in
the Southeast, have reason to feel encouraged.
The tenth anniversary of the erection of the Diocese
and of the consecration of Bishop Hafey coincides with
the centenary of Judge Gaston’s historic and success
ful fight against religious disabilities in North Carolina,
the success of which earns for North Carolina’s illus
trious Catholic son the gratitude of all lovers of free
dom of conscience. That the spirit which enabled Judge
Gaston’s views to prevail generations before they were
accepted in the Old North State still is influential is in
dicated by the general favorable reaction to the Church’s
progress during the past decade under Bishop Hafey’s
leadership. May the next decade be even more fruit
ful and glorious than the past.
Monsignor Clark
F OR OVER a quarter of a century the Rt. Rev. Msgr.
Harry Clark was one of the most valiant workers
and builders among the clergy of the Diocese of Savan
nah, and his early and lamented death may be at
tributed directly to his untiring, ceaseless labors for
the extending of the Church in Georgia.
Monsignor Clark came to the Diocese of Savannah
from his native Pennsylvania over a quarter of a cen
tury ago. As a young priest he was assigned to the
Northeast Georgia Missions, with headquarters at Ath
ens, a mission territory which extended completely
across the state, from Alabama to South Carolina, a
parish larger than most Dioceses in the United States.
He communicated his zeal for the missions to those
he served, and to his innumerable friends especially in
his native state. He erected a splendid church and sub
stantial rectory in Athens, giving the Church an im
pressive habitation in the University City. He estab
lished mission stations from the Chattahoochee to the
Savannah. He renovated existing churches, as at Grif
fin. He traveled his vast territory unceasingly, forti
fying and extending the Catholic spirit of his people.
When Bishop Keyes came to the Diocese, he promoted
Monsignor Clark to St. Anthony’s in Atlanta, a parish
struggling under a gigantic death. The new pastor
attacked the problem with characteristic zeal and energy.
With the cooperation of his people and assistance from
outside the Diocese, he gradually reduced the indebted
ness to such proportions that he undertook the erection
of the fine parish school and the acquiring of a home
for the Sisters.
On the occasion of his silver jubilee as a priest, the
Holy Father at the request of His Excellency, Bishop
Keyes, elevated St. Anthony’s pastor to the rank of
domestic prelate, fitting recognition of his achievements
during his quarter of a century of service. He was not
spared long to enjoy his honors but the achievements
which won him unsolicited distinction on earth will,
we may be confident, find favor for him before the
Eternal Judgment Seat. May he rest in eternal peace.
The Spirit of Christmas
T HE BULLETIN and the Catholic Laymen’s Associa
tion of Georgia wish to their readers and members
every blessing and happiness that the Christmas season
can bring, the blessings and happiness which were in
the minds of the angels that first blessed Christmas
when they sang to the Shepherds on the Judean hill
side; “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
to men of good will.” And in our joy and happiness
let us not forget God’s little ones in the orphanages, for
whom our Bishop has pleaded so tenderly during his
years among us. Nothing would please him more on the
eve of his retirement than to have his little charges re
membered in a special way as he is about to relinquish
them to the able hands and kindly heart of his successor.
Those in other Dioceses likewise have orphans upon
whom they may exercise the gentle virtue of Christian
charity.
Dixie Musings
The Rev. N. M. Lovein, pastor of
the Rose Hill Methodist Church, Co
lumbus preached recently on “The
Fun of Being Broke.” We should like
to know how his collection that Sun
day compared to that of a week pre
vious.
A Savannahian w«s fined one hun
dred dollars on the charge, according
to Savannah newspapers, of selling
whiskey on Sunday.
Editor Thomas Seawell, of the Win
der News, says there are fewer drunks
at football games in “wet” Florida
than in “dry” Georgia, judging by his
personal observation.
One of our distinguished Methodist
prelates is quoted as saying that there
would be no Italian-Ethiopian war if
Italy were a Bible-reading nation.
Where does that leave the Protestant
Prussia of 1914?
Another one of our Methodist ec
clesiastics, with his mind on the re
ports from the recent Laymen’s As-
socaition convention no doubt, told
the Americus conference that “if Ro
man Catholicism is sending out year
after year Christian literature, as they
interpret it, and Protestant literature
is falling off year after year, the con
dition will ultimately be very dis
tressing.”
The good Bishop ought to be wor
rying not about the literature “Ro
man Catholicism” is sending out, but
the floods from the pagan and agnos
tic press which are sweeping the
young people of Protestant churches
from their Christian moorings.
While on the subject of our Meth
odist brethren, we should like to
commend the Wesleyan Christian Ad
vocate, official organ of the North
and South Georgia Conferences of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
for its front page condemnation of
the recent lynch ings in Doo y County,
lynchings which the Vienna News ed
itorially branded as a deep disgrace
to the county. “Lynchings and civi
lization cannot be harmonized,” says
The Wesleyan Christian Advocate.
“Where one is, the other is not.”
Amen.
Chancellor Cormack, of the Belfast
Protestaht Action Society, describes
his way of promoting his brand of
Christianity, according to the Hart
ford Catholic Transcript. “I go into a
shop,” He says, “and when I am about
to pay foi the article I throw down
on the counter some coins along with
this Lourdes medal. If I see a look of
recognition in the face of the shop
assistant, I know that she is a Papist.
Then I say to her: ‘Are there any
more of our people working here?’
And she is not slow to tell me. I then
go to the manager of the shop and
see about getting them dismissed.”
Jack L. Patterson, one of Georgia’s
most widely known newspapermen,
for many years an editor in the week-
y field and later Atlanta Journal ex
change editor, d : ed in November.
Jack was one of the biggest men phy
sically in the Georgia Press Associa
tion, and he had a heart in proportion
to his size. But not small enough for
bigotry and intolerance.
Our warmest felicitations go out to
the Catholic Week, our esteemed Al
abama contemporary, on its magn’fi-
cent edition marking the silver jubi
lee of the Most Rev. Thomas J. Too-
len, D.D, Bishop of Mobile. It was a
splendid piece of newspaper work,
and worthy of the distinguished an
niversary and jubilarian it honored.
Bishop Otto, one of the oldest Bish
ops in the world, 85 years old, and
62 years a missionary priest and prel
ate in China, has never seen an au
tomobile. Out of deference to our au
tomobile dealing advertisers we shall
refrain from drawing the obvious
conclusion.
To return to the Methodists again,
Wesleyan College over in Macon will
dedicate the senior classbook this year
to the first graduate of the col'ege,
Mrs Catherine Brewer Benson, born
in Augusta in 1822, graduated from
Wesleyan in 1840, died in 1908, the
mother of Georgia’s most distinguish
ed son, Admiral William Shepherd
Benson, U. S. N., ranking officer of
the United States Navy during the
World War and honorary vice-presi
dent of the Catholic Laymen’s As
sociation of Georgia for 11 years be
fore his death.
Arid now to give the Baptists a
twirl just to let them know they are
not being neglected, Harry Stil-well
Edwards, who was a visitor to The
Bulletin office some time ago, records
in The Atlanta Journal an interest
ing experience of a member of the
first graduating class of Georgia’s
Baptist University, Mercer, at Ma
con. He was the famed Richard Mal
colm Johnson.
When Mercer observed its golden
jubilee, the committee invited Colo
nel Johnson to be the semi-centen
nial orator. Clem Steed, the orator of
the current graduating class, launch
ed into a violent attack on Catholi
cism in general and the Pope in par
ticular, an attack the Holy Father
paid no attention to, but which made
the semi-centennial orator as indig
nant as only an aroused Southern
gentleman of the rank of colonel can
get. For Colonel Johnson, unknown
to the golden jubilee committee, had
become a Catholic.
“It will be remembered,” writes the
famed author of “Aeneas Africanus,”
“that the Colonel, under the persua
sive eloquence of three mint julips,
served by his hostess, out of a golden
past, and antiques, glass and reason
able explanations of his host, forgave
the Baptists, and the whole world,
and nodded into dreamland at peace
with the human race. Brotherly love
knit together against life’s shattered
fragments into one harmonious whole.
The end of a perfect day.” The scene
of this reconciliation was Harry Still
well Edwards’ stately former home in
Macon.
Georgia newspapers recently car
ried a story about the tearing down
of the old Catholic Church at Spar
ta, “possibly the only abandoned
Catholic Church in Georgia.’ This
however, indicates not a retreat, but
a transfer of activities. The Catholic
families of Sparta have moved to oth
er cities. There are other examples
of such migration. There are more
Washintgon, Ga., Catholics in Atlanta,
Augusta or Savannah than there are
now in Washington. And any one of
these cities has more native Cath
olics of Sharon than Sharon has it
self.
In the death of Bishop McDevitt, of
Harrisburg, the Catholic Press loses
one of its most ardent and influential
friends. In disposition and charac
ter he resembles our own beloved
Bishop; Bishop Keyes and Bishop Mc
Devitt both attended the 1926 conven
tion of the Catholic Press Associa
tion, held in Savannah with The Bul
letin and the Savannah branch of the
Laymen's Association as well as His
Excellency, Bishop Keyes, as hosts.
Several years ago at the invitation
of Bishop McDevitt the editor of
The Bulletin went to the Diocese of
Harrisburg to address meetings of
the clergy on the work of the Asso
ciation, and His Excellency also ar
ranged for an address on the work
at the state convention banquet of
the Kn'ghts of Columbus at Lancas
ter, a banquet at which the Hon. Mi
chael McWhite, Irish Free State Min
ister to the United States,. spoke.
Bishop McDevitt was gentle, kind
ly, scholarly, zealous. For many years
he was Archbishop Ryan’s superin
tendent of schools in the Archdiocese
of Philadelphia, Pa. As chairman
of the Department of Press
of the National Catholic Welfare Con
ference he achieved for the Catholic
Press results which the passage of
time have but amplified. May he rest
in eternal peace.
The Brunswick, Ga., Pilot remarks
that those people who claim the coun
try is ruined are trying mighty hard
to get control of the wreck.
Father Gillis, commenting on the
modest equipment of the Papal admin
istration, serving 350,000,000 Catholics,
compared with that of our Federal
government. occupying probably a
thousand times as much space and
costing perhaps ten thousand times
as much money, expresses the op'nion
that “we get better service as Cath
olics than we do as Americans.”
Some anti-Catholic may now mis
quote the distinguished editor of The
Catholic World as saying that we
ought to put the Pope in the White
House in order to reduce taxes and
increase efficiency.
Bishop McAuliffe of Hartford in a
letter read in all the churches in the
Diocese on a recent Sunday, solicit
ed the co-operation ,of all Catholics
in the campaign to reduce highway
deaths and accidents. Motorists aften
act as though they are exempt from
the Dlv'ne injunction: “Thou shalt.
not kill”.
A world that regards Catholic prac
tices with amusement mixed with
contempt is erecting a “perpetual
shrine” to the late genial Will Rog
ers. At the Aiken, S. C.. Armist.ce
Day observance there was “One Min
ute Silent Prayer for the World War
Dead”. Catholic teaching and prac
tice respond to the yearnings of the
human heart, because both human
nature and Catholic principles flow
from the same Divine source.
December 15 was the fifteenth an
niversary of the dea'.h of James J.
Farrell, the first editor of The Bul
letin, and November 22 the second
ann versary of the death of Capt. P.
H. Rice, K. C. S. G-, for fourtten
years president of the Catholic Lay
mens’ Association of Georgia. The
passage of years does not dim the
conreiousnss on the part of the
Caiholics of Georgia of the debt
they owe these va’iant men; it seems
only yesterday that they were la
boring side by side to lay the foun
dations of this organization for the
diffusion of good will. The good they
did lives after them.
To our beloved Bishop, who will
have retired before another issue of
The Bulletin appears, a reluctant
goodbye from hearts overflowing
with love .for him—but not a fare
well! To our distinguished Bishop-
elect a heartfelt we’come and the
prayerful hope that his years among
us will be radiant with blessings
and happiness.