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' SIX
THE BOLtEror m THE CATHOUC E HYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
JULY 25, 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 52.00 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 July 25, 1936 No. 7
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,
Member of N. C. W. C. News Service the Catholic Press
Association of the United States, the Georgia Press
Association and the National Editorial Association.
A Call to Catholic Action
C ATHOLIC Action is defined as “the participation
of the laity in the Apostolate of the Hierarchy.”
Some have a notion that it consists solely in such work
as presenting Catholic truth to crowds in parks and
public squares, making radio talks, correcting mis
representations of Catholic teaching in the public press
and similar activities.
Catholic Action is infinitely more extended than that.
The Hierarchy in its Apostolate nearly three years ago
inaugurated a crusade against immoral motion pictures.
Participating in that crusade either as a leader or
through supporting the movement by refraining from
patronizing pictures which were not approved may
rightly be termed Catholic Action,
Now the Holy Father in an encyclical specifically di
rected to the Hierarchy of the United States, and gen
erally to the hierarchy throughout the world, warmly
commends the movement in the United States, urges
its continuance and extension, and recommends it as
universal example.
The Holy Father did not, as some of the newspapers
said, “order censorship of the films.” Certain standards
have been set by the Legion of Decency, standards
which motion pictures must conform to if The Legion of
Decency is to approve of them for patronage by those
cooperating with the Legion. The purpose of the Holy
Father’s Encyclical is not to effect any change in the
Legion of Decency, not to secure any greater activity
in the review of. pictures, not to change the standards
of judging them; all this has been decided, and is ap
proved by His Holiness who now seeks to extend the
work of the Legion to the entire Catholic world.
At the Institute of Human Relations in North Caro
lina recently, Protestant members of the conference,
including ministers, cited the Legion of Decency as the
right and the Prohibition Amendment tactics as the
wrong way of making moral principles effective in the
nation and the world. The keynote address in the
Legion of Decency campaign was made by His
Excellency, the Apostolic Delgate, two years ago last
October; the Bishops of the United States devised the
plan; the Catholic press publicized it; the clergy preach
ed it; the laity supported it. Most motion picture pro
ducers have reacted properly to the movement. The pic
tures are today cleaner than they have been since their
earliest days, and the motion picture producers have
been taught that clean pictures and large attendance, in
stead of being mutually exclusive, can be synonymous.
No Effect Without a Cause
W HILE some of our non-Catholic religious con
temporaries are expressing their concern over
the pageantry and “pomp” of the Catholic Church, its
“reactionary” teachings, its “centralization of power”
and other matters which give Catholics confidence in
stead of concern, the secular press is filled with spon
taneous news stories demonstrating that whatever else
you may say about the Catholic system, it produces
results.
The New York Times in a recent Sunday magazine
section feature discussed the youth of the country as
“mirrored in the CCC Camps.” We quote The Times:
“What can be said of the ethics and the morals of
the American youth, as represented by the CCC boys?
With exceptions, of course, our youth is decidedly
honest. He is profane in his language. The white boy,
if a Catholic, goes to church. If not, he has no apparent
religious tendency—a Protestant service held for 9,000
boys drew a congregation of 34.”
This of course is no new development in youth. Dur
ing the World War Mass and other Catholic services
drew as many Catholic men as programs provided for
their entertainment—this not only in the shadow of
death in the trenches but in the cantonments in this
country.
The non-Catholic religious publications most inclined
to criticize the Catholic Church are as a rule those which
feel compelled frequently to search for reasons for the
failure of many phases of their own church programs.
They are particularly disturbed by the drifting of their
young people from affiliation with their denomination.
Does not the thought ever suggest itself to them that
in the light of its results, they may have the wrong
impression of the points on which they criticize the
Catholic Church? . , r
Recognizing a Problem
T HE Christian Herald, Protestant publication, re
ports that over one half the people of the United
States have no religious affiliations; of those affiliated
with churches, one-third are Catholics.
The prospect of the children of these millions of non-
church-going Americans coming under the influence of
religion is remote indeed, and our system of public
education precludes the possibility of their receiving any
religious education there. Yet religion, as Washington
said, is the foundation of morality.
In a recent discussion on education in the United
States Senate, Senator Copeland asserted that the first
responsibility for education rests on the home.
“The next responsibility,” Senator Copeland said,
“rests with the Church. The great Church to which the
Senator (Walsh) from Massachusetts belongs has al
ways made much of religious instruction in the home
and in the schools attached to the churches. I am sorry
the same system is not used by all denominations; but,
generally speaking, the influence of the church over the
individual child is confined to one hour a week.” This
when and if the child attends Sunday School.
Senator Walsh stated that he felt certain that he and
Senator Copeland were in accord in the subject, and
asserted that “the sooner our State governments find a
satisfactory method of providing for religious training
and education that will meet the needs of the various
religious organizations, the better will be the future
citizens of the nation.”
Catholics have always been aware of this problem;
it is encouraging to note an increasing appreciation of
it on the part of religious-minded Protestants and Jews.
When a sufficient number become conscious of its
urgency, they may study the Canadian and other sys
tems in effect which harmonize with the American
policy of separation of Church and State.
More of the Same Thing
T HE flow of news from Mexico in recent weeks is
likely to be confusing except to those who remem
ber that the more the government appears to change
across the Rio Grande, the more it is the same thing.
Calles, the persecutor of the Church, has been ex
pelled from the country by Cardenas, who has al
lowed some additional churches to open, but the only
solace Catholics can get out of the incident comes from
the thought that when rascals fall out, just men may
get their due.
The transition from Calles and his puppet successors
to Cardenas has worked no fundamental change in the
Southern Republic. The report that Cardenas has al
lowed additional churches to open is no indication that
those who constitute the government have seen the er
ror of their ways and have experienced a regenera
tion of heart.
The laws against religious schools and education, the
laws limiting the number of priests, the laws on the
confiscation of church and private property used for
religious purposes and the other equally nefarious
statutes directed against the Church still stand.
What advantage to Catholics is there in allowing a
few more churches to open if the Church is still for
bidden by law to teach, or to provide a sufficient num
ber of priests to officiate in them, or to own property,
or to exercise the other rights necessary for her mis
sion?
We believe that the Mexican government intends only
an advantage to itself. Having given world-wide pub
licity to the report that it is allowing additional churches
to open, we suspect it will next broadcast the Catholic
reaction to the gesture as an indication of Catholic in
gratitude and of the impossibility of satisfying Catho
lics. It would give us the greatest of pleasure to have
developments prove we are wrong in our suspicion. But
we fear we are right.
The Fruit of the Tree
T HERE are 669 Catholic hospitals in the United States,
an increase of ten over last year, the Catholic Hos
pital Association of the United States and Canada re
ports. The number of beds in these hospitals is 85,042.
Twenty-three general and special Catholic hospitals of
the Archdiocese of New York gave a total of 350,000
days of free care, another report, that of the Division of
Health of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese,
states. This does not include Brooklyn, which is itself
a Diocese. ,
The expense of the care of those not able to pay or who
could only pay in part—these are not included in the
350,000 day figure—was not met by excess of income over
expenses. Despite the self-sacrificing lives of the Sisters,
who serve without salary and for a bare subsistence, and
despite contributions from generous friends of the hos
pitals, they ended the year with an operating deficit of
$292,438. This does not include interest on investment,
depreciation and other parallel items. And the situation
in New York may be duplicated in Catholic hospitals in
every section of the nation and indeed of the world.
Yet the Catholic Church continues to build hospitals
to minister not to her own children merely but to all
who are suffering and in physical distress. Georgia’s
Catholic hospitals treat about 3,000 patients a year, equal
to about one-seventh of the Catholic population of the
state; an overwhelming majority of these 3,000 patients
are not members of the Catholic Church.
“Though you will not believe Me, believe My works.”
What must one logically think of the tree bringing forth
such fruit? ••
Dixie Musings
We learn with profound regret of
the death of Bishop William Turner
of Buffalo, one of the most disting
uished scholars in the American
Church, and a friend of the Catho-
lice Laymen’s Association of Geor
gia since its pioneer days.
Bishop Turner, born in Ireland,
made such a brilliant scholastic
record there that he was selected to
go to the North American College
in Rome, where he was a student
for the Diocese of St. Augustine; he
so distinguished himself there that
Archbishop Ireland secured him for
the faculty of his seminary at St.
Paul. He went to the Catholic Uni
versity of America as professor of
philosophy in 1906. In 1919 he suc
ceeded Cardinal Dougherty as Bishop
of Buffalo.
For a number of years previous to
the death of his brother, Father
Patrick Turner, D. D., pastor of St.
Peter’s Church, Montgomery, Ala.,
Bishop Turner spent a part of each
winter in Augusta, where Augustans
and Georgians learned to know and
feel great affection for him. We
had seen him periodically since that
time, and he never failed to indicate
his continued acquaintance with the
details of the work of the Associa
tion and his deep interest in it. The
entire American Church shares in
his loss. R. I. P.
Those who “took a walk” in 1928
are hardly in a position to criticize
Governor Smith’s current tenden
cies toward pedestrianism.
The walking habit is spreading in
the Smith family. Senator Smith of
South Carolina walked out of the
Philadelphia Democratic convention
because a Negro offered prayer.
Col. Johnny Spencer deposes and
declares that the Senator was a
member of the legislature of South
Carolina years ago when Negroes
also were serving.
Senator Smith has also been a
member of the Congress of the
United States with Congressman
DePriest, even though the rotunda
of the Capitol separated them—ex
cept during joint sessions.
The Millen, Ga., News says that
Senator Smith lost his head at Phil
adelphia, and the Bullock Times and
Statesboro News calls it “waving
the black shirt for political effect.”
Editor Dave Turner of Statesboro
says that if anyone wants “to issue
a tirade at any Republican, -be he
white or black, we believe they are
justified, beause to be a Republican
is purely an evidence of depravity
by choice; but it is going pretty far
to berate a Negro Democrat. Cer
tainly no man chooses his color, and
therefore neither blame nor praise
attaches, but every man can choose
his politics, and those Negroes who
espoused the cause of Democracy
had gone as far as they could to re
deem themselves from whatever of
odium rested upon them.”
and Farmer that the death of Gil
bert K. Chesterton dealt her a pain
ful blow. “In my humble opinion,”
Mrs. Price says, “his 'Robert Louis
Stevenson’ is the best piece of lit
erary criticism I ever read.”
Bishop Joseph H. Conroy of Og-
densburg, N. Y„ recently observed
the fifty-fifth anniversary of his or
dination, an occasion for rejoicing
among his innumerable friends
throughout the country. The Bulle
tin was honored by a visit from
Bishop Conroy and Bishop Walsh of
Newark, then of Trenton, some
years ago. Bishop Conroy was made
a member of the Papal Household
forty-two years ago, and has been a
Bishop for a quarter of a century.
Ad Multos Annos.
Commenting on The Bulletin’s re
port that Governor Curley of Mas
sachusetts has revoked the decree of
a predecessor of his three hundred
years ago expelling Roger Williams
from the Bay State, the Southern
Messenger of San Antonio reports
that Mr. Williams is not expected
back.
The Federal Council of the
Churches of Christ, an agency of
twenty-three Protestant denomina
tions, denounces the “Black Legion”,
saying: “Its use of the name of God
Almighty is blasphemous, and its
description of itself as Protestant is
unjustifiable and shameful.”
President Frank Kingdon of the
University of Newark remarked at
the Institute of Human Relations
that it is the general impression in
the United States that there are
something over twenty million
Catholics, five million Jews and all
who are not Catholics or Jews are
Protestants. “We Protestants get not
the remainder,” says Dr. Kingdon,
“but the residue.”
Dr. Kingdon ought to know how
Catholics feel when every Occiden
tal with a name that is not Anglo-
Saxon or Semetic is catalogued for
our ranks;
He will not over-estimate our cha
grin, however, for we believe it was
he who said that the Protestant
Churches like to consider them
selves bands of saints, while the
Catholic Church looks on itself as a
society of sinners (striving as a so
ciety for sanctity).
The Catholic Transcript of Hart
ford comments on the reappearance
of a brochure entitled: “Secret Hyp
notism of the Jesuits.” The Jesuits
appear not to have gotten around to
using it on some opposing football
teams.
We read that the Seventh Day
Adventists give an average of $120 a
year to their church. Some of the
tactics of the Adventists often irri
tate Catholics. Perhaps some day
they will make us so angry that
we’ll do as much for the Church as
they do for theirs.
The coming state and national
campaign promised to be an excit
ing one. and the injection of the
radical issue has accentuated the
situation. We trust that Editor Tur
ner’s effort to ridicule it out of the
picture will succeed. Its appearance
in the campaign only serves to con
fuse the issue, muddy the waters
and embarrass the Georgian who
told a North Carolina audience re
cently, in answer to an inquiry, that
Georgia politics now does not de
scend to that level.
This same Georgian attended the
convention of the Georgia Press As
sociation at Milledgeville and Sa
vannah recently as the delegate—
that's the Cleveland and Philadel
phia influence—of The Bulletin. The
folks in Milledgeville say that Fa
ther T. J. McNamara did more for
the success of the convention there
than the recent weather did for ice
cream men.
We had the privilege of being the
guests there of Mr. and Mrs. R. W.
Hatcher, and were the envy of all
the other editors. This is but another
example of the value of foresight;
we got ourselves the invitation from
the Hatchers a year ago, when Mil
ledgeville was named the conven
tion city.
The arrival of the editors in Sa
vannah upset the city so much that
the Savannah Morning News pub
lished an editorial lauding Gover
nor Landon. The reaction would
seem to indicate that the Georgia
editors are not praying for any
Happy Landon Thanksgiving Day.
The editors report that Savannah
has mighty fine artesian water. In
Augusta we get our water from the
Savannah River. It is filtered and
stored in great water towers. There
is a tradition that once you drink
Augusta water you’ll never be sat
isfied until you come back.
After many years they opened up
a water tower and found several
feet of sand settled in the bottom.
This seems to explain why drinking
the water fills you with Augusta
sediment.
In Rome they have a tradition
that if you throw a penny into the
Treve Fountain you'll come back.
We surmise that ^Scotchman start
ed that one.
Mrs. Virginia Polhill Price, new
ly elected Democratic National
Committeewoman from Georgia, re
ceived the news of the death of
Maxim Gorky without excitement,
but writes in her Louisville News
Mayor Alfred Byrne of Dublin,
Ireland, sent a letter to Mayor M. A.
Chapman of Dublin, Ga., via the
Queen Mary, and Mayor Chapman
has answered it by courier, who is
Dean Dreyer, a recent graduate of
the University of Georgia, now vis
iting Europe. What the Mayor of
Dublin, Ireland, said to the Mayor of
Dublin, Georgia, and vice versa is
not indicated in the accounts we
have seen.
The Montgomery, Ala., Journal
points with- pride to the achieve
ment of Paul Westerfield Brunson,
blind student at Spring Hill College
who graduated this year as valedic
torian of his class. The Journal says
editorially: “When a boy can ac
complish that when thus handicap
ped it ought to make boys with their
faculties ashamed if they fail to util
ize their God-given gifts to the full
est.”
Editor Charley Benns of the But
ler Herald reminds those seeking to
abolish poverty that “on pretty re
liable authority we have it that the
poor will be with us always.” The
lot of the poor can be improved and
the number of the poor reduced, but
the efforts of those who deny the
existence of heaven to create a
heaven on earth are doomed to dis
appointment.
Cardinal O'Connell asserts that to
vote for an unfit man for public of
fice is a sin, a doctrine which if ex
pressed by a political leader would
subject him to expulsion for treason
to the party.
F. Gordon O’Neil, editor of Moni
tor, official organ of the Archdiocese
of San Francisco, pays this tribute in
his column to our friend, Major-
General Paul B. Malone: “He loves
his Church and he loves his coun
try. He is unafraid. He has little
respect for those men in the Army
or elsewhere who grumble that their
religion has impeded their advance
ment.
“He believes that Catholics have a
definite contribution to make in all
walks of life, and that they should
make it honestly, politely and with
out hesitation. He believes that the
union of men through Christ in
Holy Communion is the most impor
tant Catholic Action. That is a unity
which is the most solid foundation
for brave citizenship and for Cath
olic Action.”
All of which indicates that Gen
eral Malone has not changed since
it was the pleasure of Bulletin read
ers and numerous other Georgians
to know him here.