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EIGHT
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 29, 1936
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 and Nash-
ville and of the Rt Rev Abbot, Ordinary of Belmont.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1935-1936
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. XVII. February 29, 1936, No. 2
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.
A Glorious Pontificate
I N THIS, the month of the Catholic Press, the Pope of
the Catholic Press starts the fifteenth year of a Pon
tificate which is destined to be treasured forever in the
memory of the Church in a special way.
In his first Encyclical, Ubi Arcano Dei, the Holy
Father pleaded for the promotion of the “Peace of
Christ in the Kingdom of Christ”, and that has been
the consuming desire of His Holiness in the intervening
years.
Three times since the coronation of His Holiness has
he by virtue of the power of his august office released
extraordinary floods of grace through Holy Years; “his
glorious Pontificate,” says His Excellency, the Apostolic
Delegate, “has been made even more glorious by the
great number of canonizations and beatifications
through which he has offered for our veneration and
our imitation new models of sancity taken from every
walk of life.”
The Encyclicals of His Holiness on the Condition of
Labor, on Marriage and the Family, on the Extension
of Missionary Work, on the Priesthood have given new
vigor to the Church to the furthermost ends of the
earth. His settlement of the Roman Question alone
would make his Pontificate one of profound achieve
ment.
From his vantage point by the Tiber, the Holy Father
looks out over a world distressed by manifold difficul
ties, distraught by conflicting interests, afflicted by suf
ferings for which he as the Visible Head of the Church
has the only solution. There is much in the world to
day to discourage those who seek “the Peace of Christ
in the Kingdom of Christ”, but the loyalty of sons and
daughters of the Church to the Holy See is a redeeming
and heartening circumstance. May their prayers united
with those of the Holy Father open the ears and hearts
of those in the places of the mighty to the salutary mes
sages of peace and concord voiced by the Vicar of
Christ, the Father of Christendom.
Pay Day Is Here
4 4 r T -, HE wages of sin is death,' and economic evils
A follow moral wrongs just as certainly as physi
cal disasters flow from lives of dissipation. These are
facts the Church has ever proclaimed most emphatically,
and history has demonstrated most vividly.
The Church is still proclaiming them and history is
still furnishing the evidence. Not merely the history of
fallen empires but the record of current events as re
cent as today’s newspapers.
The Church denounces “birth control” as a sin, with
the usual wages attached. Recent stories in the press
present the evidence. The New York newspapers of
February 4, for instance, carried statistics presented by
Dr. John L. Rice, Commissioner of Health, in an ad
dress before the Metropolitan Certified Milk Producers,
Inc., at the Roosevelt Hotel. The milk producers were
complaining about accelerated curtailment in the demand
for their product.
. In 1915, there were 140,000 births in New York City,
Dr. Rice said. Last year, with a population of at least
1,500,000 greater, the births were 40.000 less. The birth
rate is dropping from year to year, he asserted, and this
is the major explanation of the decrease in demand
for certified milk from 40,000 quarts daily in 1931, two
years after the depression began, to 25,000 in 1935.
That this is not an isolated example is indicated from
other items in newspapers. A large New England city
reports that it must consolidate classes in the lower
grades of several of its schools because of a falling off
in the number of children; the teachers are worried
about their jobs. A similar situation prevails in
numerous other places where the number of families
shows no decline. The Savannah Press editorially states
that twelve states had lower birth rates than the cur
tailed figure of 1934. It is improbable that the economic
effects of this condition can be confined to milk dealers
and grammar school teachers, especially in view of the
prediction of statisticians that before men and women
now middle aged will be old the population of the
country will decline, should the present trend continue.
The Church does not condemn “birth control” because
it is an economic evil. It denounces it because it is a
moral wrong. It is an economic evil because it is a
moral wrong, and not a moral wrong because it is an
economic evil. For “the wages of sin is death”—
economically as well as morally. Will the American
people profit by the warning of the Church, based on
Divine relevation as well as her experience through the
ages and across the nations, in time to save themselves
trora the fate of Greece and Rome?
Long Live the King’s Attitude
T HE King is dead, but the discussions prompted by
the passing of His Majesty continue in feature
sections and editorial columns of the newspapers. His
refusal to take the anti-Catholic oath of office at the
time of his coronation is being emphasized as an indica
tion of his spirit and character.
When King George V was at Mauritia on his world
tour as Prince of Wales, local Catholic notables broached
the subject of the anti-Catholic feature of the oath taken
by the King of England, in which the King asserted:
“The invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary and
the Sacrifice of the mass as they are now used in the
churches of Rome are superstitious and idolatrous.” The
Prince said that he would never take such an oath.
On the death of his royal father, who had, so the story
runs, taken this part of the oath with embarrassment,
King George V was as good as his word; despite the
howls of bigots he refused to insult his Catholic sub
jects and that part of the oath was eliminated. His son,
King Edward VIII, now takes the revised oath as a
matter of course, and protests, if any, have not been
effective enough to get into the newspapers.
Thus do we progress. The oath of the King of Eng
land, however, has yet to become a model of tolerance.
It requires him to swear: “I am a faithful member of the
Protestant Reformed Church by law established in Eng
land.” Only a Protestant may be ruler of an empire
in which Protestants are a minority, and of a nation in
which there are millions of Catholics, and numerous
members of the Reformed Church by law established
who deny they are Protestants. However, that is Eng
land’s concern, and it will without doubt dispose of it in
due time.
In the meantime, we hope we shall not be misunder
stood when we remind those who are exercised over
“Roman Catholic intolerance” that only a Protestant
may be King of England. And likewise (see the En-
cylopedia Britannica) of Sweden and Norway.
Murder in Mexico
D ESPITE all that has come out of Mexico about re
ligious persecution there, most Americans still
have a hazy notion about it. Statistics presented by the
Baltimore Archdiocesan Confederation for the Defense
of Religious Liberty in Mexico serve to make general
impressions definite.
Forty priests have been murdered during the past
ten years; the names, dates and places are given. Many
others of whom there is no record have been killed.
Five native Mexican Bishops have been expelled from
the country for no other reason than the office they
hold; twelve Mexican Bishops have been driven out of
their Dioceses.
In 1926 there were in Mexico about 3,000 priests,
about one-eighth the number in the United States Now
that number has been limited by law to 334, about
fifty less than there are in the Diocese of Scranton,
and half the number in the Dioceses of Pittsburgh or
Buffalo.
In fourteen states with a population of over six mil
lion people, no Bishop or priests are permitted by local
laws. In the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, where a few
priests are allowed, in the first three months of last
year thirty-four priests were imprisoned and ten exiled.
Over 2,500 native Mexican priests, forbidden by law to
exercise their sacred ministry, are in hiding.
The officials of the Mexican government still blandly
deny that there is persecution of religion there, and
there are on this side of the Rio Grande people credul
ous enough to believe them, apparently on the theory
that although they may be guilty of murder, as indicated
by political assassinations in their own ranks, they
will not tell a lie.
The Duty of Voting
A RCHBISHOP McNICHOLAS of Cincinnati has
issued, a pastoral on “the duty of voting” which
could be read with salutary effect from every pulpit in
the land.
Every Catholic citizen should resolve to form the habit
of voting, His Excellency says. “Whether or not elec
tions seem important, the principle of voting habitually
is important.”
Dixie Musings
The Tifton Gazette discovers a
preacher who wants the world to take
a year’s vacation from religion to
demonstrate its need for it. The Ga
zette suggests instead that everyone
try religion for a year to see how it
works.
Down in Arkansas, according to
the newspapers, Negro parents named
their baby AAA, and now they want
to know if the infant is unconstitu
tional.
The Pelham Journal comments ap
provingly on Cardinal O’Connell’s
emphasizing of the moral obligation
of citizens to endeavor to select good
men for public office.
Johnny Spencer on the Macon Tele
graph notes that the Italians are re
versing the order of things by throw
ing their rings into the hat.
Negroes are growing less numerous
proportionately in the United States,
we are informed. In 1790 negroes con
stituted 19.3 per cent of the popula
tion of the nation. In 1930 this had
dropped to 9.7 per cent. This instead
of every fifth person being a negro,
the situation in 1790, now every tenth
person is colored.
Negro illiteracy is decreasing in en
couraging fashion. In 1870, 81.4 per
cent of the Negroes were illiterate;
this dropped to 16.3 per cent in 1930.
There are in the nation 54,439 school
teachers, 25,034 clergymen, 10,583 mu
sicians and teachers of music, 5,728
trained nurses, 2,146 college profes
sors 1,7E46 dentists and 1,230 lawyers,
.judges and justices.
The Dawson News presents these
statistics, and remarks that “due no
doubt to hard economic conditions
the Negro has had to face,’ ’the tenth
of the population which is colored
furnished a fifth of the prisoners re
ceived by the courts in three recent
years. The problem of illiteracy and
poverty among Negroes therefore does
not concern them alone.
Rev. Dr. John B. McCloskey, pastor
of St. James’ Church, Red Bank, N.
J., for many years a warm friend of
The Bulletin, was honored by his
arish and community recently when
e completed ten years as pastor,
succeeding his late brother, Father
James P. McCloskey. We first met
Dr. McCloskey in Chicago. Mr. Hav-
erty met him in Europe this summer.
We both met him again at Bishop
O’Hara’s installation. May we meet
often.
Guyton, Ga., had an Irish program
in the school chapel hour recently,
the eighth and ninth grades spon
soring it. The numbers included
“The Story of St. Patrick’s,” “Story
of the Shamrock.” “Persecution of
the Catholics,” “The Irish Famine,”
solos such as “A Little Bit of Heav
en,” readings like “The Low-Backed
Car,” and a chorus, “The Wearing of
the Green.” Such a program in a
public school would have rocked the
state from end to end a few years
back.
A writer in the London Universe
advises Catholics writing letters to
editors to “be brief, be charitable,
stick to the point.” The Catholic Lay
men’s Association's policy.
“Tobacco Road” is still having
rough going. Eugene McCarthy of the
Cleveland Universe-Bulletin writes
that the Rev. Dr. W. W. T. Dun
can, pastor of Lakewood Methodist
Church there, criticized it along the
lines of the comment in The Bulle
tin in a recent issue. To the asser
tion that a play cannot live on vulgar
ity alone, the minister replies that
burlesque does.
One Sunday afternoon several
weeks ago we started out to find To
bacco Road and to look it over. We
discovered that we had been going
out there from time to time for the
past few years for social meetings of
a civic movement—and never knew
what a diabolic neighborhood it was.
There is some consolation in the fact
that the others there shared our ig
norance.
The Catholic Press is rather silent
on Governor Smith’s Liberty League
address. But Father Coughlin, Father
John A. Ryan, Simon Baldus and oth
er Catholic publicists do not seem to
agree with the governor’s linking of
the New Deal with socialism and
communism.
We are not in accord with the atti
tude of those Catholics who believe
that men like Governor Smith ought
to be silent lest those who resent
their criticisms will try to make the
Church suffer for them. In the first
place, such persons are for the most
part' afflicted with an anti-Catholic
tinge, which will no doubt break out
sooner or later, with or without prov
ocation. In the second place, men like
Governor Smith are not going to keep
their opinions to themselves when
they think it proper to enunciate
them, and we might as well make
the best of it.
Dudley Glass, the always sprightly
and often profound columnist of the
Atlanta Georgian, admits he picked
this from some other newspaper,
thereby winning for himself A pluses
in frankness and in discerning taste:
“If the radio’s slim fingers can pluck
a melody out of the night and toss it
over a continent or sea; if the petaled
white notes of a violin are blown
across a mountain or a city’s din; if
songs like crimson roses are pulled
from thin blue air; why should mor
tals wonder if God hears prayer?”
Dr. Patrick Scanlon, managing ed
itor of The Tablet, tells of carrying
clippings around in his pocket for
weeks, and discovering them when he
was sending the suit to a tailor. So
they do that up in Brooklyn, too.
Marquis Daniel J. Murphy, whom
His Eminence Cardinal Dougherty
lauded in his' New Year’s address,
gave $262,154.50 to St. Mary’s Institute
for the Blind, and collected more than
another $130,000 from his friends. He
contributed $27,000 to the new Arch
diocesan Seminary.
The Greensboro Herald-Journal
quotes an exchange which quotes St.
Peter as saying that the homes in
heaven are built from the material
we send up while we are on earth.
Mr. Murphy should have a mansion
indeed, for no doubt his spiritual in
vestments were as abundant as his
material contributions.
Says A. W. G., writing in the Bos
ton Post one of those frigid days in
January: “I love New England’s cli
mate, with its crystal atmosphere;
and I thank my lucky stars, Califor
nia, that I’m here. We don’t boast
of our sunshine, but when spark
ling on the snow, and shining through
the frosty panes, it beats a Kleig
light show.” We’re so pleased that
A. W. G. is so happy.
A proposed free City College in
Queen’s County. Brooklyn, is meeting
spirited oppos’tion. The Jamaica Li
ons’ Club, the past president of the
Chamber of Commerce, the pastor of
the Dutch Reformed Church and the
Rabbi of the Temple Israel are among
those working against the idea. Wil
liam Hastings, past president of the
Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica,
says the college would foster commu
nism; other city colleges, he says
have turned out large numbers of
communists. Borough President Har
vey, of Brooklyn, asserts that such
colleges are “breeding grounds, for
‘reds.’ ”
The erudite Birmingham News-
Age-Herald says that Senator Borah is
a descendent of Martin Luther's wife,
Catherine Von Borah, who, according
to the National Weekly Poll of Pub
lic Qpinion, quoted by the N.-A.-H.,
escaped from a convent during the
Protestant Reformation by scaling the
convent wall and climbing into empty
beer barrels.” It is quite probable
that those responsible for the empty
beer barrels are the authors of the
“convent escape” story. The Birming
ham News-Age-Herald, not having
helped to empty the barrels and
mindful of the stories circulated in
1928, ought not to have been taken
in like that.
Every Catholic citizen must enjoy the greatest possible
liberty in voting, he asserts. ' “It must be made un
mistakably clear that the Church of Cincinnati espouses
no political party. She desires only that good men and
sane men, men whose honesty is unquestionable, what
ever be their creed or their political affiliation, be
chosen for public office.
“The Catholic voter should not be influenced either
for or against a candidate because of his religion. May
our country be not scourged by recurring waves of
bigotry, which have written disgraceful pages of our
history.
“It is extremely important that previous to an elec
tion the issue to be presented be seriously studied, and
that the character of the candidates be investigated. No
word, however, must be spoken from the Catholic pul
pit either in favor of a candidate or against him.
“Issues must neither be favored nor opposed unless
they have moral implications. Whenever there is ques
tion or moral turpitude, the Catholic Church will fear
lessly speak her mind.”
The Church is not in politics. Catholics as citizens
have not only a right to be in politics, but a duty to
exercise their right of franchise, and to exercise it in
the manner outlined by the Archbishop of Cincinnati,
a manner which will appeal to all right-minded mien
irrespective of creed.
Coach W. A. Alexander, of Georgia
Tech, says that one of the greatest
expeditions which fell to his lot, the
Olympic games of 1928, was memor
able chiefly because of his association
with “Al” Doonan on that trip. Mr.
Doonan, whose death was announced
in the previous issue of The Bulletin,
was for many years sectional repre
sentative on the Olympic committee.
Athletic Director H. J. Stegeman
and the entire coaching staff of the
University of Georgia went to At
lanta to attend Mr. Doonan’s funeral
at Sacred Heart Church.
Father Francis P. LeBuffe, S.J., a
distinguished son of Charleston, man
aging editor of Thought, New York,
asked what he considered the great
est need of Catholic journalism, said:
“Wider vision of Catholic world
events, fewer ‘attacks,’ more con
structive editorials, articles, etc. —
and fewer parochial items ^about card
parties and oyster suppers.”
The Macon Telegraph announces in
an emphatic headline: “Hit-Run Dri
vers Ordered Arrested.”
President Roosevelt has given Fa
ther James R. Cox of Pittsburgh, a
stone from the White House to be
used in the building of his new
church. We wonder if someone will
not construe this as union of Church
and State.
Up in Portland. Maine ,a former
resident of the South undertook to
observe Christmas with fireworks,
as he did below the Mason - Dixon
line. The neighbors couldn’t under
stand it and the police locked him
up.
Father F. C. Roy, S.J., observed his
golden jubilee as a Jesuit at the
Church of the Immaculate Conception
recently, and Father P. A. Ryan, S.
J., pastor, marked it with a celebra
tion of the kind he used to put on in
Augusta whn he was pastor of Sacred
Heart Church there. For the golden
jubilee of Sacred- Heart Church, Fa
ther Ryan had more Bishops, prelates
and priests than ever attended a sim
ilar ceremony in the Southeast. That
was 12 years ago. Father Ryan has
lost none of his energy or initiative.
The Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow, a
member of the Cincinnati City Coun
cil and the local leader of Father
Coughlin’s National Union for Social
Justice, is a non-Catholic clergyman.
Gil Dobie, Cornell’s gloomy football
coach, has resigned and will coach
Boston College. Holy Cross promises
to give him something to be gloomy
about.
After reading Belloc’s Wolsey for
the third time, we still think we pre
fer Wheeler.