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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L AYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JUNE 20, 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 June 20, 1936 No. 6
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.
The Latest Nazi Outrage
*" | "THE situation in which Catholics and all religious-
minded people find themselves in Germany again
demonstrates that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
A few years ago, anyone predicting that Catholics,
Protestants and Jews would be subjected in Germany
to the persecutions now current there would have been
regarded as fanatical. But there seems to be no length
to which the persecutors will not go.
The latest outrage, the arrest of 276 members of the
Order of St. Francis on charges of "immorality”, would
have been unthinkable even in the earlier days of the
present government, yet it was predicted from authori
tative sources which anticipated that the failure of prev
ious efforts to alienate the people from the Church
would lead to more diabolical outbursts.
On March 21, AMERICA in New York quoted Prince
Loewenstein of Bavaria as follows: "The Nazis are now
planning to launch a new assault upon the Church.
There will be a series of trials spread out over a long
period in which trumped-up, thoroughly faked evidence
of moral turpitude will be introduced against tjie
priests.” The answer to the Prince’s accusations (an
answer said to be traceable to the German Embassy at
Washington) was that he was not a Prince but a Count,
not a Catholic, and in the pay of the Jewish interests.
Time has demonstrated the accuracy of Prince Loewen-
stein’s predictions. He asserts that the charges were
prepared by the Ministry of Propaganda and not by the
Ministry of Justice, where they belong, if anywhere,
and that the purported confession of Father Bernhard
Steinhoff as well as others is faked as brazenly as
the charges.
Furthermore, GERMANIA, the only Catholic publica
tion permitted in Germany and that apparently only
because it is published by Von Papen whom Hitler dares
not silence, in its May 26 issue asserts that most of the
defendant “monks” held for trial are not priests or re
ligious as we know them, but merely laymen living in
the world and having some connection with the Third
Order of St. Francis, as tens of thousands of American
laymen have.
Anyone knowing the background and the source of
these charges and who still gives credence to them must
be put in the category of those who want to believe
them.
Catholic Education and the Nation
T HE Catholic high schools, colleges, universities and
seminaries of the United States are this month
graduating 68,800 students, and additional tens of
thousands from grammar school departments.
About 51,000 students are receiving high school
diplomas, 1,200 will graduate from normal schools, and
12,000 will receive degrees on the completion of under
graduate couses. Catholic institutions of higher learn
ing will confer 1,400 graduate degrees.
About 1,800 will complete courses in minor seminaries
and 1,100 graduates of major seminaries will be ordained
to the priesthood.
This magnificent contribution to education in the
United States in a single year by the Catholics of the
nation was achieved by the sacrifices of teachers de
voting their lives to the cause of education for a mere
subsistence, and of parents who deny themselves in
order to support Catholic schools and colleges while at
the same time contributing at least their share to the
upkeep of the public system of education.
In all the tens of thousands of young men and women
Catholic schools, colleges and universities are sending
out into the world, there is not one atheist, one Com
munist, one agitator seeking the overthrow of the na
tion’s institutions.
Their whole education, their entire training has been
directed toward the upbuilding of character which will
uphold law and order, truth, justice and morality, the
basis of our government and its institutions.
Year after year the Catholic Church continues to make
such a contribution to the welfare of the nation, and
the nation’s leaders, disturbed by concerted attacks on
the foundations of the Republic, are becoming increas
ingly conscious of the cumulative and beneficient ef
fect of Christian, Catholic education. If atheistic and
agnostic radicalism have not made the inroads here that
it has in more troubled parts of the world, the Catho
lic schools of the United States, with their millions of
graduates—there are now about 2,500,000 pupils in these
schools—are not without a generous share of the re-
sncnsibility. ' '•
A Twentieth Century Apostle
F ROM the meagre obituaries carried by the secular
press, it is evident that it did not know that the
death of Bishop James A. Walsh of Maryknoll marked
the passing of one of the great figures of the generation.
Bishop Walsh was a New Englander, and for eleven
years after his ordination, in 1892, he served as a curate
in the Archdiocese of Boston, a plain priest among plain
people, "baptizing their children, burying their dead,
loving them, praying for them.” In 1903 he was made
Archdiocesan Director of the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith.
Father Walsh was distressed by the lack of interest
in foreign missions. He undertook to acquaint Catholics
with the mission fields by writing interesting books
about them. He founded a magazine, THE FIELD AFAR.
One year from his little ofice he sent $100,000 to the
foreign missions.
But he was far from satisfied. At the International
Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in 1910 he met Father
Thomas Frederick Price of North Carolina. They talked
about the foreign missions and the necessity for an
American society of religious for missionary labors in
foreign lands. They conceived the idea of the Maryknoll
Missioners. The Bishops of the country approved it in
April of the following year. Father Walsh and Father
Price then took the project to the Holy Father, Pope
Pius X, for his approval and blessing, which he gave
gladly.
In a little house at Hawthorne, N. Y., they started the
work. They had poverty, hard work, little appreciation.
But the work grew. Volunteers came for the work, men
and women. In due time they were priests and Sisters,
and they sailed away to carry the tidings of Redemption
to the teeming millions of the Orient.
The quarter of a century since the Holy Father gave
the Maryknollers his blessing constituted one of the
most stirring pages of missionary history. Three years
ago the Holy Father raised Father Walsh to the Episcop
ate. The last time Bishop Walsh pontificated, it was to
raise his first student, Father Francis X. Ford, to the
ranks of the Successors of the Apostles. Two others of
his sons in religion are Bishops, 206 are priests; one
thousand of the society of missioners he and Father
Price founded, Bishops, priests, Sisters and Brothers,
are laboring in the field in Korea, Manchukuo and
China or preparing other hundreds in this country for
the work.
When Bishop Walsh and Father Price launched their
apostolic enterprise, foreign mission work was indeed
comparatively foreign to the Church in America. But
America has taken the t^ork to its heart, despite its
own needs—what country has not such similar needs?—
and that is the monument Bishop Walsh leaves behind,
a monument which the passing of generations will but
burnish.
Religion and Science
T HOUGH all the world should approve birth control,
the Catholic Church would still be unalterably and
unswervingly opposed to it because it is a violation of the
natural law and intrinsically and thoroughly evil. The
Church is infallibly confident of her position, and op
position does not disturb nor approval strengthen that
confidence.
There are many outside the Church, however, un
impressed by the Church’s position, who cannot but
be influenced by the manner in which true science
always confirms Catholic teaching after pseudoscience
has had its day and retires to the limbo of discarded
theories which once paraded as facts.
Now comes a committee on investigation of the ques
tion of birth control which reports to the American
Medical Association that it "found no evidence available
to justify the broad claim that dissemination of contra
ceptive information will improve the economic status of
the lower income groups”, that “at present the part of
our population with the best education and presumably
the most competent socially and economically is not re
producing itself”, that most persons are relatively unin
formed as to "the possible dangers” of contraception”
and that there is no type of contraceptive which is “rea
sonably effective and adequate or a large portion of the
population”.
The members of the committee making the report on
birth control was, it may be of interest to note, com
posed of Dr. Carl Henry Davis, Milwaukee; Dr. John
Rock, Boston; Mrs. James R. Bloss, Huntington, West
Virginia; Dr. Everett D. Plass, Iowa City, Iowa; Dr.
George W. Koskak, New York, and Dr. W. W. Wood
ward, Chicago.
In an address before the convention, Dr. Groves B.
Smith, of Illinois, asserted that sterilization is no solu
tion of the insanity problem and that the abnormal man
in most cases presents no problem which can be solved
by sterilization.
Catholics do not need to be told these tiling by Amer
ican Medical Association committees or leaders; they
have been taught them already by the Church which de
rives its infallible teaching from the Author of all truth,
and the Source of all science, and they know that there
can be no conflict between the truths of religion and
the truths of science. Others who will not take these
warnings from the Church may heed them when voiced
by medical science. ; —-—-—•—^
Dixie Musings
A year ago Atlanta was host to the
annual convention of the Catholic
Press Association. This year the As
sociation went from the capital of
Georgia to the capital of Ohio. And
the guileless James T. Carroll, edi
tor of the Catholic Columbian, host
to the 1936 meeting, modestly ex
plains the distinguished success of
this year’s gathering by saying it fol
lowed in the footsteps of Atlanta.
Nearly all our old friends were
there, and some new ones. There were
a thousand and one inquiries about
friends the editors made in Atlanta.
Representatives of cities seeking the
C. P. A. convention for 1937, felt it
necessary to emphasize the point that
it would not be good policy to go back
to Georgia again after being there in
1935, so threatening did they consider
the possibility of the Association
heading South again under the influ
ence of the memory of Atlanta, Sa
vannah and Asheville.
Columbus entertained the editors
nobly from the cordial welcome at
the opening session Thursday morn
ing to the closing luncheon at St.
Mary’s-of-the-Springs Saturday. Co
lumbus was the birthplace of the as
sociation twenty-five years ago, and
Bishop Hartley, Bishop Noll, Father
John J. Burke, C. S. P., Mr. Carroll,
Simon Baldus, Dr. Thomas P. Hart,
Father Cotter, Father McDermott,
Monsignor Foley, Father Lynk and
others who attended the first conven
tion graced this silver jubilee gather
ing. You note none of the ladies
claimed to be among the pioneers.
We particularly missed Father Par
sons, who recently retired as editor of
America. The convention paid him the
unprecedented tribute of adopting a
resolution of regret on his retirement
from the. field of Catholic journalism.
Father Talbot, his distinguished and
able successor, was there, and Father
LeBuffe, Charleston’s distinguished
son, whose absence for the past four
years had been keenly felt.
From Columbus we went down to
the University of Dayton, where we
had the pleasure of meeting Father
Tredtin, S. M., president, Brother
Thomas Price, S. M., professor of
English, a former Georgian, and oth
er friends of a former visit. The Uni
versity of Dayton is rapidly becoming
one of our foremost universities in
size as well as in the excellence of its
courses, and is a pioneer in several
fields; it is wielding a permeating in
fluence throughout Ohio and the Mid
dle West, and extending it to the
South where it has many alumni.
From Dayton we headed north for
our first visit to the University of No
tre Dame. We tried to visualize Notre
Dame, and the visualization was most
comprehensive. But the realization
surpassed all anticipation. Notre
Dame gives one another reason for
pride in the Church in America. It
challenges comparison with any uni
versity in the country. Harvard and
Yale would give millions from its en
dowment for Notre Dame’s admirable
and exemplary campus life. It is the
largest boarding school in the world.
Father John F. O’Hara guided us
over the spacious campus—the Uni
versity has 1,200 acres, if our memory
is accurate—and the various schools,
chemistry, architecture, law, mechan
ical engineering, biology, commerce
and others, not forgetting the arts and
letters course, give one a new “idea
of a university.” Notre Dame has one
of the finest art collections in the
country, with a value well up in ten
figures. It has been a literary center
since before the days of Maurice
Francis Egan, who left there for the
Catholic University of America in
1893. Lecturers from the great univer
sities of Europe come each year for
special courses, many of them world
famed.
We were well on our way to In
dianapolis and Louisville when we
realized that in the time Father
O’Hara had devoted to showing us
Notre Dame, he had not shown us
the football stadium, or mentioned
football except to express pleasure
that the University and Georgia
Tech were to renew on the gridiron
the relations interrupted some years
ago by schedules which would not
dovetail. Notre Dame is proud of its
football teams, but football is but an
incident of Notre Dame life.
There’s a man in South Bend, Ind.,
named Mr. Holycross selling Fords,
if we can believe the telephone di
rectory. With a name like that he
ought to be selling Lincolns.
In Louisville we attended the
commencement exercises at Naz
areth College, where Father Gillis
delivered the commencement ad
dress, a masterpiece of its kind as
Father Gillis’s efforts always are.
and Father Gillis, Benedict Elder
and this revolving reporter had
another session of the Columbus
press convention.
At Nashville we had the privilege
of meeting the Most Rev. William L.
Adrian, D. D., recently installed as
Bishop of the Church in Tennessee
after being consecrated at Daven
port. Iowa. Bishop Adrian has
already endeared himself to the
people of Nashville and Tennessee;
his scholarly, zeal, leadership, kind
ness, gentleness and his priestly
character assure him a blessed and
eminently fruitful episcopate in the
historic old Diocese now approaching
its centenary. _ ,. _,
It is a sobering thought to con
sider that many of the people one
sees casually on a trip like this we
shall never see again until the day
of judgment. We expressed this
thought to a fellow-traveler and
drew the observation that in many
cases that was soon enough. We hope
there is nothing personal in the re
mark.
Here’s where we spent our nights
for a week: Friday, Columbus, O.;
Saturday, Dayton, O.; Sunday, South
Bend, Ind.; Monday, Indianapolis,
Ind., Tuesday, Nashville, Tenn.;
Wednesday, Atlanta, Ga.; Thursday,
Augusta, Ga. A Roamin’ Catholic
editor.
Going up through the mountains
where dwell “the purest Anglo-Sax
ons in the world”, according to the
historians of the South, the seat next
to ours on the bus—the only direct
means of transportation—was occu
pied for a part of the way by a
young lady who said she was a
nurse, born not far away, and who
knew the mountaineers as only one
so situated can. It was quite inter
esting, hearing about the Anglo-
Saxons from an Anglo-Saxon whose
work brought her so into their lives
—real inside information. As she was
leaving, we discovered that her name
was Miss Patricia O’Grady.
Which reminds us of Bishop Glass
of Salt Lake meeting a Mormon
Bishop named Murphy. “How does fl
man with a name like Murphy hap
pen to be a Morman Bishop?” asked
Bishop Glass. “Bishop,” was the re
ply, ■'you can’t keep the Irish down:*'
Through Ohio and Indiana farmer*
have their names painted on their
barn3 just like the operators of any
other line of business.
Vincent dePaul Fitzpatrick, man
aging editor of the Baltimore Cath
olic Review is the new president ofl
the Catholic Press Association, suc
ceeding Joseph J. Quinn of Okla
homa City. Mr. Quinn retires after
two conspicuously successful terma
of office, culminating in the magni
ficent participation of the Catholic
Press of the United States in the In
ternational Catholic Press Exhibit
in Rome, of which Charles H. Ridder
of the Catholic News, New York,
treatsurer of the C. P. A„ was
American chairman. Mr. Quinn, who
used to arrive in New York for C.
P. A. meetings in the morning and
leave for Oklahoma City again at
night, retires happy in the thought
that he won’t have to go to New
York any more, but can stay with
his homing pigeons out in the great
open spaces.
Mr. Fitzpatrick is one of the best
known Catholic editors in the United
States and even in the world. His
syndicated articles appear in news
papers on every continent. Ho
started his newspaper career on the
Baltimore Sun, where Henry L.
Mencken made his reputation; our
guess is that he got his mental acu
men debating with Mr. Fitzpatrick.
We have ourselves witnessed the de
vastating force of Mr. Fitzpatrick’s
logic in news room debates in Bal
timore. He and Monsignor Albert E.
Smith have made the Catholic Re
view of Baltimore, one of the
sprightliest and most quoted news
papers in the country. There is
never any debate necessary on
where the Catholic Review stands;.
We consider the Catholic Press As
sociation most fortunate in the elec
tion of Mr. Fitzpatrick and know that
he will add new prestige to the As
sociation and the post of president.
There is a widespread suspicion
that the warrant Congressman Zion-
check swore out against John Gar
ner was merely a scheme to get the
vice-president’s name in the news
papers again.
Henry Nevin in the Dalton Citizen
tells of a visit of Bishop Mikell,
Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, to a
mountain school in North Georgia,
apparently in his episcopal robes.
The Bishop was very much impres
sed by the attention of the pupils
to his talk and by their general good
behaviour, and complimented the
head of the school on it. “That wasn’t
good behaviour, Bishop,” said the
principal. “They thought you were
a Ku Kluxer.”
The Quitman Free Press says that
the Black Legion is one case of
something being as black as it i*
painted.
The day before Mr. Thomas SI,
Gray, treasurer of the Catholic Lay
mens Association of Georgia since its
inception, died he visited the office
of The Bulletin. Although in failing
health for the past few years, he wag
active to the hour of his death, which
came as he was preparing to arise.
His failing health and strength did
not diminish his interest in the work
of the Laymen’s Association, nor
keep him from the annual concen-
tions. Those who saw him at the Sa
vannah, Augusta, Macon and previ
ous conventions realized his dimin
ishing strength but admired the de
termination with which he carried
on. He was for years one of Au
gusta’s outstanding and most beloved
citizens; the city owed more to no
man in recent years than to him. No
man had assisted more young men in
a financial way than did he in his
years as a banker; be believed in
character rather than collateral
loans, and his confidence was justi
fied. None outside his own family
will miss him more than the office
staff of the Laymen’s Association.
May he rest in eternal peace. _j