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SIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L AYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
MARCH 28, 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 oi
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. McCALL UM, Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS S GRAY. Augusta Treasurer
RICHARD REID. Augusta Publicity Director
MISS CECILK FERRY Augusta. Asst. Publicity Director
Vol XVII.March 28. 1936 No. 3
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 Protest and an Apology
O N the eve of St. Patrick’s Day the Savannah Press
published an editorial entitled: “A St. Patrick’s
Day Feature”, intended to be facetious, which caused
more widespread indignation among Catholics, and non-
Catholics as well, than anything which has appeared
in a Savannah or other leading daily newspaper of the
State since the earliest days of the Laymen’s Association
His Excellency, our Most Rev. Bishop, in a telegram
to The Press promptly, vigorously and aptly protested
the editorial as “foul and insulting” and he publicly
denounced it at the St. Patrick’s Day Mass the follow
ing morning in St. Patrick’s Church in his See City.
On the afternoon of St. Patrick’s Day. under the head
ing: “No Offense Intended”, The Press apologized for
the editorial in these words:
“The Evening Press yesterday afternoon contained an
editorial in which there was reference to the manner in
which leap year became recognized as the period when
women could propose marriage to men. It dealt with an
early legend of St. Patrick and was printed at this time
because of the near approach o f St. Patrick’s Day.
"The Press learns with deep regret that the appear
ance of the editorial gave offense to some of its most
highly appreciated friends. The Evening Press -at the
first opportunity offered seeks now to give assurance
that the article was not intended as a criticism or re
flection. The editorial was based on an article that ap
peared in a publication of national circulation, and
which so far as we are aware has never before incurred
adverse criticism.
“But whether'it has or not, does not concern us for
the moment. It is because its appearance in the Even
ing Press has been the cause of distress to those whom
the papers holds in such h : gh regard that we publish
this editorial to express regrets for the article.
“To those who are attached, through active service or
because of religious or other ties, to those who were rt-
referred to in any manner that might be cause for criti
cism, the Even’ng Press extends its apology and its re
grets that the offending sentiments were published.”
The Bulletin is authorized by His Excellency to say
that although astonished and shocked by the editorial
he now considers the incident closed, and we express the
earnest hope that never again will anything of this
nature mar the columns of the Savannah Press and dis
turb the cordial relations which have existed and which
ought to exist between The Press and its Catholic
readers.
Repenting at Leisure
W HEN the administration at Washington indicated
that it was considering recognizing Soviet Rus
sia, a flood of protests descended on the Capitol; among
those most outspoken in opposition to the plan was the
independently pointed out the lack of logic in such pro
cedure.
The proposed recognition of Russia was to be based
on certain premises made by the Soviet to the United
States. The Bulletin and numerous other Catholic news
papers wished to know by what process of reasoning
Washington arrived at the conclusion that the Soviet,
which made no pretence at living up to other agreements
would respect this one
The United States nevertheless recognized the Soviet,
an action that the Macon Te'legraph editorially now
terms a mistake. “That recognition was based on two
conditions,” says The Telegraph, “One of them was that
Moscow would cease her propaganda in the United
States and the other was that the Soviet Government
would buy a vast quantity of goods from the United
Statts. The Soviet has kept neither pledge.”
Moscow answers our protests against her propaganda by
blandly saying that she cannot control her nationals in
this country, although she promised to do so and the
evidence shows that such propaganda is officially in
spired. Her excuse for not living up to her agreement
on the purchase of goods is, in its last analysis, that
we expected her to pay for them.
The Soviet Republic boasts that it is Godless. Without
God there can be no religion, for religion is a bond of
union with God, and without religion there can be no
logical basis for morality. What basis can there be for
an oath, an agreement, a promise in the Soviet official
circles? None but expediency. That is what the Catholic
press tried in vain to impress on the government at
Washington. _.
The Twenty-First Year
F OR twenty years the Catholic Laymen’s Association
of Georgia has been laboring “to bring about a
friendlier feeling among Georgians irrespective of creed”
and it starts its twenty-first year with the heartening
endorsement of His Excellency, the Most Rev. Bishop
of Savannah, the third Ordinary of the Diocese to honor
the Association’s efforts with encouraging approval.
The confidence which our Bishop reposes in the Lay
men’s Association makes the Association humble as well
as proud, for it imposes upon it the responsiblity of
proving itself always worthy of that confidence.
That the Catholics of Georgia will respond to the an
nual effort this year in even more generous fashion than
at any time since the beginning of the depression is the
conviction of those who know them best. The Associa
tion at the Savannah convention hopefully considered
plans which included among other things the more fre
quent issuing of The Bulletin, and it feels confident that
the current activity to secure new and renewed member
ships will be a great stride in that direction.
Leaven in the Loaf
H IS Excellency, Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland, is
one of the most distinguished members of the
American heirarchy, and he has done particularly notable
work as episcopal chairman of the Department of Lay
Activities of the National Catholic Welfare Conference,
from which he retired recently after years of most
fruitful labor.
At a recent meeting of the Diocesan Council of the
National Council of Catholic Women in his See City,
His Excellency emphasized the value of Catholic part
icipation in mixed groups.
“Participation in such mixed groups may have some
elements of danger in it,” Bishop Schrembs said, “but
as grown up Catholics you must have courage and
knowledge to face this responsibility and be able clearly
to present your viewpoint based upon knowledge of
your faith and a sound Catholic philosophy. You must
be able to bring some contribution to such groups and
you can refute many errors.”
The element of danger to which Bishop Schrembs re
fers comes mainly from participation in such mixed
groups by Catholics not sufficiently well-informed or
not sufficiently Catholic-minded to be competent re
presentatives.
The Church which civilized Europe and which even
from the human standpoint is today the stabilizing force
of the world can through its sons and daughters make an
invaluable and definite contribution to every movement
in which they participate. It can make it only through
sons and daughters who understand the Church’s
position, who are saturated with its principles, who are
convinced that the principles of Christ of which the
Church is the authorized teacher are the hope of the
world today as in every crisis since Calvary.
There are some groups whose whole attitude is fal
lacious, and participation in their activities by Catholics
is futile, foolish and forbidden. But mixed groups moti
vated by sound principles and composed of persons of
good will are the ones Bishop Schrembs has in mind,
and they afford a splendid means of utilizing the - ben-
eficient power of Catholic principles.
A Half-Century’s Progress
T HE Interracial Review presents some significant
statistics about Negroes in the United States. They
number 13,000,000, of whom 5,000,000 are Protestants,
250,000 Catholics and 7,750,000 belongs to no church.
Therefore of every fifty Negroes, only one is a Catholic,
and there are over thirty Negroes who belong to no
church for every one who is a Catholic.
There are 221 Catholic Churches for Negroes in the
United States, 263 Catholic schools, 35,026 Negroes en
rolled in Catholic schools, and 300 priests and 1100 Sisters
engaged in the work for the Negroes. Fifty years ago
there were only fifteen Catholic Churches for Negroes,
and fifteen priests devoted exclusively to the work.
The work among the Negroes is very often considered
a concern for the Church in the South alone, but there
are more Negroes in some cities in the North than in
any Southern city. New York has 327,726, Chicago 233,-
000, Philadelphia 219,000 and Washington 132,068.
The progress which has been made during the past
half-century is a heartening indication of what can be
accomplished. It means the most self-sacrificing kind of
effort. It requires the exercise of unfaltering perserver-
ance, of infinite patience. It involves more than the mere
revealing of the beauty, dignity and truth of the Church
to the colored people.
For in work among the colored people the same obstac
les must be overcome as among white persons. Colored
people, whether they belong to a church or not, have
their own religious views. The exacting moral require
ments of the Catholic Church and the social and other
factors which prove so strong a temptation to other
races to ignore her credentials are at least no less potent
in that direction among Negroes.
However there are mitigating circumstances which
add to the appeal of the Church to Negroes, not the
least of them being the natural spirituality of the color
ed people, and the absence as a rule of the spirit of
irreligious cynicism from their hearts.
“Going, therefore, teach ye all nations,” Our Blessed
Lord commanded, and the statistics for this year com
pared with those of a half-century ago indicate the
wholehearted manner in whiA the Church in the United
States has heeded that Divine injunction among the
colored people as well as othes.
Dixie Masings
The Editor of The Bulletin wishes
to extend his deepest and most
earnest gratitude for the generous
felicitations which have been ex
tended to him from far and near on
the occasion of the announcement of
the awarding of the Laetare Medal
to him, and he can only reiterate this
statement by him for the newspapers
of Augusta when he was advised of
the award:
The announcement from Notre
Dame finds me totally unprepared
to receive it, and I can only ex
press by profound, heart felt and
humble appreciation to the great
University.
I regard the conferring of the
Laetare Medal not as anything
merited by me personally in any
measure, but as encouraging
and heartening recognition of the
work of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia, with which
I have the good fortune to be
connected.
The honor belongs, therefore,
to the Catholics of Georgia who
conceived the idea of the Associa
tion and whose sacrifices and
labors have made its work pos
sible, and to the people of the
State as a whole whose gratify
ing reaction to the efforts of the
Association to increase good will
and to extend harmonious rela
tions among Georgians has been
such a mighty factor in whatever
it has been given the Association
to accomplish.
We believe in editorial fearlessness
and all that sort of thing, but we
haven’t courage sufficient to defy the
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce by
referring to the Very Rev. Vicar-Fo-
raine of the Atlanta District by his
official title as Rural Dean.
We nominate Frank (not Mark)
Sullivan's: “Is There a Republican
Party?” for the Noble Piece Prize.
The National Legion of Decency put
“Klondike Annie” ’in Class B. The
Baltimore Catholic Review disagrees
and lists it as Class C, completely ob
jectionable.
Thereupon we are asked why we
can’t get together on the classifica
tions of the motion pictures. Because
it is a matter of judgment, and judg
ments even when guided by the same
principles and the same good will
are rarely identical in a large num
ber of cases.
We haven’t seen the picture, but
before Lent saw a short pre-view
which leads us to believe that in this
instance the Baltimore Catholic Re
view has the better of the argument.
This difference in opinion reminds
us of the attitude of many Catholics
toward Father Coughlin. Some of our
friends ardently maintain that the
ecclesiastical authorities ought to
command Father Coughlin to be si
lent. Others are equally convinced
that the critics of Father Coughlin
should be made to hold their peace.
When we all agree on the applica
tion of principles the millennium
will have arrived. In the meantime
there will be difference of opinion
and exprehsion of those differences.
Some persons will express them be
nignly and others violently. By grace
fully accepting this inevitable condi
tion we shall keep our blood pressure
around nar.
Democracy is making great head
way in Mexico, if we are to believe
the daily press. Women will be per
mitted to participate in the approach
ing primary election. But. says the
announcement, which we quote from
a New York daily, “it will apply only
to women who are affiliated with the
National Revolutionary Party (now in
powers) or employed in government
offices.”
Uruguay has expelled the Soviet
minister on the ground, among other
charges, that Soviet officials had ac-
tivly assisted a radical revolt in Bra
zil. Brazil sent the Uruguayan gov
ernment a message of thanks for its
action, despite Soviet objections.
Down there they “look not upon the
whine when it is Red.”
The Associated Press reports, under
date of March 3 from London: "It
was authoritatively stated tonight that
a marriage between King Edward and
the former Infanta Maria Christina
of Spain, hinted at by a Spanish
newspaper, is ‘impossible’ under a
British law whereby the King cannot
wed a Catholic.
Father Joseph Fraling, of Bemidji,
Minn., in sending in his check for
The Bulletin, writes: "It has been
about 30 degrees below zero for 30
days on an average; we had 54 be
low.” Father Fraling has great finan
cial difficulties of his own in such
an atmosphere, and yet assists the
Catholic Press not only locally, but
in a place as far distant as Georgia.
A postcard addressed to “Catholic
Headquarters, Augusta, Ga.,” was de
livered by Uncle Sam to the office
of the Laymen’s Association. The
card, from a small town in Georgia,
warns us that the end of the world
is at hand, and the herald of ap
proaching doom signs his name.
Six economists in New York pre
pared family budgets under the aus
pices of the Association for Improving
the Condition of the Poor. They
concluded that for $2.25 a week a
working girl can eat all she needs,
and that a family of five in the “low
er social strata” can do with $214 a
year. The Bourbons are not the only
people who forgot nothing and learn
ed nothing.
Vice-President Charles Curtis who
died recently addressed the “Ecumen
ical Council” of the Methodist
Church in Atlanta when Senator
David I. Walsh came to Atlanta four
years ago to address the annual con
vention of the Catholic Laymen’s
Association; Mr. Curtis and Senator
Walsh met at the Biltmore at the
time. Mr. Curtis really was in the
wrong convention for he was bap
tized a Catholic; he was not reared in
the faith.
March 17 was the coldest, windiest
St. Patrick’s Day the South has seen
in many years. In Savannah, the
temperature never got higher than 48,
and it got as low as 39 or 40; there
was a 34-mile wind, strong enough
to do nearly everything but disrupt
the St. Patrick’s Day observance. The
wind was strong, but after all it blew
in gacls.
It was the first St. Patrick’s Day
in the South of His Excellency, Bish
op O’Hara, and he expressed him
self as amazed and delighted at the
thorough manner in which Savannah
observed the feast of Ireland’s pa
tron saint. None contributed as much
to the occasion in Savannah as His
Excellency. One of the most pleas-
atn features of the day was a tele
gram of greeting to Bishop O’Hara
and the clergy, gathered at the an
nual St. Patrick’s Day dinner as the
guests of Monsignor Mitchell, from
Bishop Keyes in New York, soon to
leave for a visit to his native Ire
land.
Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., whom the
world knows as “Bobby” Jones, was
born 34 years ago on St. Patrick’s
Day.
Says the Cuthbert, Ga., Leader:
“The public row between a Catholic
priest and a Catholic layman must
come as something of a shock to the
man who got his information about
members of that denomination from
the late Tom Watson.”
Sidney Catts, who spent a consid
erable portion of his adult years
seeking to uproot the Catholic Church
and cast it out of the country, died
in Florida recently, an unfortunate
man discredited by the courts of his
state and nation. Never was the
Church stronger than now in the state
in which he used his authority and
influence as governor to its attempt
ed detriment. The next politician
seeking to lift himself into public of
fice by the lever of prejudice should
meditate on the career of Catts and
others of his category.
Dudley Glass digs this one up from
a Memphis newspaper: "Dr. Holcomb
will discuss ‘If the Depression Has
Disappeared, What Lessons Did It
Teach?’ Mrs. W L. Walker will sing,
‘Search Me, O God.’ ”
We dug this one up ourselves in
Memphis: “Cotton States Hotel.
Rooms for Rent.” Perhaps we shall
some day discover a drug store with
drugs for sale.
We might have dug this sign up
nearer home, but with Joseph Quinn
of the Southwest Courier and Mon
signor Matthew Smith of the Denver
Register slyly injecting their travels
into their comment, we can’t let them
have anything on us.
Now that we are on the subject of
travels, some time ago we were in
tire Metropolitan area — Mr. Quinn
was there, too. by the way—and spoke
on the work of the Laymen’s Asso
ciation at Newark, N. J., before the
National Conference of Evidence
Guilds; we were pleasantly surprised
to find in the audience two mem
bers of the Laymen’s-Association from
Rome, Sister Peter Claver of the Mis
sionary Servants of the Most Blessed
Trinity, who was formerly Miss Han
nah Fahy, and Miss Agnes Fahy. now
doing newspaper work on metropoli
tan dailies.
We had the pleasure of visiting the
convent of the Missionary Servants
in Newark, where they do social ser
vice work. This comparatively new
order has six Georgia young women
among its members. Sister Peter Cla
ver and live former residents of Co
lumbus, Miss Marie Mott Burr, who
is Sister Angel Guardian, Miss Anna
Skotsie, who is Sister Regina, Miss
Mae Champion, who is Sister Mary
Thomas, Miss Kathleen Champion,
who is Sister Mary of the Holy Ag
ony, and Miss Mary Rickley, who is
Sister Gonzaga.
The Department of Education of
the N. C. W. C., reports that more
than half the Catholic institutions of
higher learning are in ten states, and
we may add that more than half the
Catholics of the nation are in five or
six states.
In Wisconsin a Swede went into a
refreshment resort and ordered f or
himself and his companion; when the
bill was presented he told the owner
to charge it. The owner pointed to
a sign: “Liberal credit extended to all
those 80 years of age or over when
accompanied by a parent.” “That’s
O. K ,” said the patron. “I’m 80 years
old; allow me to introduce my father.
He’s 98.”
The Milwaukee Herald - Citizen
quotes a youngster as saying that his
catechism was too hard; he wanted a
“kitty chism.”
A defendant named Sam Worthy
was sentenced to from 22 to 34 years
in the superior court of Fulton Coun
ty. Atlanta, which again prompts the
query: “What's in a name?”