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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?”