Newspaper Page Text
OCTOBER IT, 19315
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC L 'AYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
NINE
C.L.A, Information to the Press and Inquirers
C.L.A. Presents Facts About
Sterilization to Newspaper
Macon Telegraph Publishes Matter Prompted by Its
Editorial on Subject
Why Does the Church Insist
on Its Laws on Marriage?
An Answer to an Inquirer by the Catholic Laymen’s As
sociation of Georgia
The following answer was sent to
an inquirer who asked why the
Church insists on Catholics being
married before a priest and why in
mixed marriages a formal promise
must be made that the children will
be brought up as Catholics:
We must start with the fundament
al that marriage is not a mere social
convention, but what St. Paul terms
“the great Sacrament”, ordained by
God. Unless we agree on that funda
mental we can never afterward come
to an agreement, nor'can we come to
an understanding on the teaching of
the Church and her requirements of
her children with respect to their
entering into matrimony.
When Christ came upon earth, He
restored marriage to the high estate
from which it had fallen because of
the hardness of the hearts of the
Chosen People; H. made it one of
His Sacraments, and He charged the
Church with the mission of dispen
sing the Sacraments, giving the
Church alone power over their dis
pensation.
You ask: “If our ceremony is not
recognized in the marriage of a
Catholic, why should there be any
harm done to have it just to please
us?”
That is the question that was ask
ed of the early Christian when they
refused to offer incense to the gods,
a ceremony they did not recognize.
They died rather than do it.
But in the case of a marriage be
tween a Catholic and one who is not
a Catholic, the non-Catholic party
may ask: “What about my belief?”
The answer is that one must be
guided in the salvation of his soul
by his own beliefs and not by the
beliefs of others; Catholics by Cath
olic belief and not that of non-
Catholics.
Catholics believe that Christ
founded the Church, that He made
the Church the dispenser of His Sac
raments, that His Church is the
Catholic Church, that the Sacrament
of Matrimony is binding until death.
Should a non-Catholic intending
to marry have the same ideas in ref
erence to matrimony and feel about
his church as a Catholic feels about
his, such a party could not in con
science yield to the performance of
a Catholic ceremony; and since the
Catholic party likewise could not in
conscience yield, there would be an
impasse, with each party respecting
the belief of the other but biding his
own conscience under God.
But such is seldom the case. What
usually happens is that the Catholic
party, believing in the principles
outlined, recognizing miarriage as a
Sacrament, binding until death, hold
ing the Church to be the sole dis
penser of Christ’s Sacraments, and
knowing the great importance
through the rest of his life of enter
ing into the marriage state— this
Catholic party is asked for the sake
of a mere convention, just to please
someone, to discredit all these sacred
mandates of his conscience in order
to indulge in a ceremony which has
no meaning to him.
It would be fair to make such a re
quest if the conscientious belief of
the non-Catholic party corresponded
to tYf- belief of the Catholic party
in all things except in the identity
of the Church Christ instituted—but
even then it could not be conceded.
But it is not fair for anyone to ask
that his conventional beliefs be set
before another’s conscientious be
liefs.
We trust that the foregoing will en
able you to see the Catholic position
and the reasonableness of it, granting
its premises. We are inclosing a copy
of our pamphlet, Catholics and Mar
riage, which also may be helpful. If
you desire any point in the foregoing
amplified, I shall appreciate your let
ting us know.
4 Bishops, Abbot, President
of Notre Dame at Convention
An editorial, “Experience With
Sterilization”, in a September issue of
the Macon Telegraph, prompted the
following self-explanatory letter and
article which The Telegraph publish
ed, and which prompted approving
comment in the communications
column of The Telegraph:
To The Editor of The Telegraph:
The writer of the editorial, “Ex
perience With Sterilization,” in to
day’s Telegraph evidently has come
in contact with on one side of tl>e
question. Inclosed is a reprint of a
letter on the subject we wrote sev
eral months ago to the Augusta
Chronicle, which The Chronicle ran
as an article instead of in its letter
form. It will acquaint the writer of
the editorial with authoritative opin
ions with which he does not seem to
be familiar; your readers also would
no doubt be interested in the po
sition of such authorities against
sterilization.
RICHARD REID.
Publicity director, C. L. A. of Geor
gia:
THE ARTICLE
Viewing sterilization, except as a
punishment for crime, as immoral in
the same sense that the taking of life
except for the punishment for crime
is immoral, and terming it “a vio
lation of man’s natural rights,” the
Laymen’s Association does not dis
cuss those aspects of the question in
the statement, but devotes its atten
tion to the opinion of medical and
scientific authority, opinion which it
asserts should temper the enthusiasm
of those who propose sterilization as
a remedy for current evils. The Lay
men’s Association says:
“Dr. H. S. Jennings of Johns Hop
kins University in “The Biological
Basis of Human Nature,’ writes: ‘It
has been computed that if the pro
portion of feeble-minded in the popu
lation is one per thousand, to de
crease that proportion to one per ten
thousand will require 68 generations,
or two to three thousand years, if it
is done merely by stopping the pro
pagation of feeble-minded individ
uals.’
Dr. C. Leonard Huskins of McGill
University states that ‘sterilizing the
unfit themselves would not produce
notable results even after many gen
erations of effort’ and that ‘to wipe
out the unfit it would be necessary
also to sterilize the brothers, sisters,
parents, uncles, aunts and cousins.’
“Dr. Franz Boaz of Columbia Uni
versity, writing in a recent issue or
the American Mercury on ‘The Dan
gers of Sterilization’, a significant title
says that ‘there is great uncertainty
in the factors producing feeble-mind-
edhess’, but, granting for the sake
of discussion that ‘ten per cent of the
children of schizophrenes (mental de
fectives of an aggravated type) are
liable to become schizopnrenes, while
the only one per cent of the general
population is as affected, shall we
sacrifice the ninety per cent normals
for! the ten per cent abnormals?”
“IJr. Boaz also declares that there
are many persons in our cities and
our- schools who may be classed as
morons, but ‘who under better condi
tions would be able to hold then-
own’.
"Dr. J. H. Landman of the College
of the City of New York asserts that
‘sterilization is not by any means the
solution of the problem of the feeble
minded and the mentally diseased.
Instead it creates new problems, par
ticularly the spread of social diseases.
If ’ persons are incapaciated enough
to be sterilized they ought to be
segrated; segregation, to quote Dr.
Landman further, ‘would not only do
all that sterilization would do . . .
but in addition remove the many
dangers from society that would arise
from their freedom . . . The fact of
the matter is that many of the mental
incompetents that are sterilized and
paroled and discharged are returned
to ’the institutions. They need institu
tional care anyhow.’
"The British Central Association for
Mental Welfare says that sterilization
‘turns back the sterilized on the com
munity to become the victims of the
unscrupulous, and in carriers of so
cial diseases which are causes of in
sanity and mental deficiency.’
“Elizabeth Tuthiil Edwards, a no
torious woman of the colonial period,
came of an evil family. Her own life
was a public scandal. One of her sis
ters murdered her own son, and one
of her brothers murdered his and her
sister. If the sterilization people were
active then and had their way, Eliza
beth Tuthiil Edwards yould have been
one of their first subjects.
“Yet, according to Harvey Wickham
in ‘The Misbehaviorists’, who quotes
Dr. Horatio Haskett Newman of the
University of Chicago and Albert E.
Wiggam, author of ‘The Fruit of the
Family Tree’ ’hs his authorities, this
woman was the ancestor of Timothy
Edwards, a founder of Yale Univer
sity, from htr descended also 12 col
lege presidents, 265 college graduates,
65 college professors, 60 physicians, 100
clergymen, 75 army officers, 60 prom
inent authors, 100 lawyers 30 judges
and 80 other prominent public offic
ials, including three congressmen,
two United States senators, a chief
justice and two presidents of the
United States.
‘‘Sterilization as a punishment for
(Crime is conceivable although there is
difference of opinion about its effec
tiveness. But sterilization is a pre
ventative of crime, insanity and pov
erty is but another of those panaceas
which bob up in history, make a brief
stir and then disappear to make room
for another, leaving a trail of disillus
ionment and heart break in thei
wake.
“None doubts the sincerity or pur
pose which actuates most of those
advocating sterilization as a means of
improving the lot of our people. But
we submit that in the light of these
opinions of eminent leaders in the
field of eugenics it is hardly defen
sible to say that ‘the sterilization law
appeals to the Common sense of every
individual.’
“A proper environment for our un
der-privileged people will do more to
eliminate insanity, crime and poverty
than the most enthusiastic advocate
of sterilization erroneously claims will
flow from a sterilization law.”
The Georgia Legislature passed such
a bill last year, but Governor Tal-
madge vetoed it.
G.L. A. ANSWERS TO
RECENT INQUIRIES
Q—Why are all Catholic services
conducted in Latin?
A—Only the services of the Roman,
Milanese and Mozarabic Rites in the
Catholic Church are conducted in
Latin; Greek, Syryac, Coptic, Armen
ian, Arabic, Slavonic and Georgic
are used in other rites.
Latin is used in the Roman Rite be
cause it was the language of Rome,
and therefore naturally adopted; it
was retained as a matter of conveni
ence when the Church spread from
Rome through Europe and beyond. It
provides the Church with a universal
language, making priests and people
feel perfectly at home at Mass abroad,
thus deepening the consciousness of
spiritual kinship. It promotes unifor
mity of liturgy and prevents depar
ture from the meaning of the origi
nal in a manner which would be in
finitely more difficult if the Church
had to enact rubrical legislation for
scores of languages in the Roman
Rite instead of one. It has other ad
vantages obvious to all who realize
the value of an international langu
age. Those who do not know Latin
may follow the Mass and the other
ceremonies through translations in
their prayer books.
Q—Hew was it possible to create
the Roman Catholic Church in Rome
instead of Bethlehem, the Holy Land?
A—The Catholic Church was found
ed not in Rome but by Jesus Christ
Who lived and died in the Holy Land.
Christ Made St. Peter the head of the
Apostles, and St. Peter becoming
Bishop of Rome, Rome,became the
center of the Church and of the gov
ernment of the Church, his office and
its authority descending to his suc
cessors Bishops of Rome.
Q—Please give the name of the first
Bishop and successor of St. Peter.
A—St. Linus, who succeeded St.
Peter about 67 A. D. dying twelve
years later.
Q—A Catholic and a non-Catholic
wish to be married. The non-Catholic
wishes to be married by a priest. If
there are children and the non-Cath
olic wishes to bring them up in his
own faith, which the Catholic is sat
isfied to do, will the priest marry
them?
A—No. Catholics are convinced that
the Catholic Church is the true
Church, and a Catholic is bound in
conscience to bring up his or her
children in the Catholic faith.
Augusta Convention
Committee Chairmen
Augusta committee chairmen
working on the convention under
the leadership of Chairman Thomas
P. Doris include:
Luncheon: P. H. Rice, Jr., and Mrs.
Marion C. Stulb.
Transportation: Worth Andrews,
Jr., and James O’Connell.
Registration: E. J. O’Connor and
Victor G. Dorr.
Auditorium: L. J. Henry and John
T. Buckley.
. Entertainment: J. Coleman Demp
sey and John Chesser.
Publicity: Hugh Kinchley and
Louis O’Connell.
Invitations to local guests: C. Vic
tor Markwalter and C. C. Brotherton.
Decorations: Miss Daisy Barbot,
Mrs. William Herman, Mrs. Charles
Weigle.
Reception Committee: J. B. Mul-
herein and Thomas P. Kearney,
chairmen of the men’s committee,
and Mrs. Alfred M. Battey, Mrs.
Thomas P. Doris and Mrs. Richard
Reid, chairmen of the women’s com
mittee.
C. L. A. Treasurer
THOMAS F. WALSH
THOMAS F. WALSH IS
TREASURER OF G. L. A,
Accepts Appointment to Suc
ceed Late Thomas S. Gray
Thomas F. Walsh, president of the
Catholic Laymen’s Association in
1918-1919, when he was succeeded
by the late Capt. P. H. Rice, K. C.
S. G., one of the founders of the
Association, and since 1919 a mem
ber of its publicity committee, has
been appointed treasurer of the As
sociation by President Alfred M.
Battey, to succeed the late Thomas
S. Gray, who was chairman from
the organization’s founding until his
death. Mr. Walsh has accepted the
appointment.
Born in Beaufort, S. C., Mr. Walsh
has lived in Savannah since early
manhood. He is one of the leading
members of the Savannah Bar, a
former assistant United States Dis
trict Attorney, state deputy of the
Knights of Columbus from 1919 to
1921, and one of Georgia’s leading
Catholic laymen. At the reception
of His Excellency, Bishop O’Hara,
the night of his installation as
Bishop of Savannah, Mr. Walsh
was the spokesman for the laity of
Savannah. The Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia is indeed hap
py to have Mr. Walsh as its treas
urer and it knows he will render
the Association the same splendid
service as was rendered to it over a
period of twenty years by the be
loved pioneer and Mr. Walsh’s
friend, Thomas S. Gray.
C. L. A. Information
Brings Consolation
to Bereaved Parent
An inquirer in a small community
wrote to the Catholic Laymen’s As
sociation of Georgia asking for the
Catholic teaching on prayers for the
dead. The information was sent and
the following letter received:
“I received the books you sent
and surely have enjoyed them. I
have since the death of my son
greatly desired to know what the
Catholic Church teaches and would
appreciate your sending me ‘The
Faith of Our Fathers’ and any other
books which would help me to un
derstand. I admire the Catholics
praying for the departed and would
be glad for every Catholic to pray
for my son. Our Church would
have no confidence in its own
prayers for the dead, so I can’t ask
it, for we know that prayer without
faith is of no avail. Sincerely hop
ing that you will remember me in
your prayers, I am,
“Very truly yours.”
Auxiliary Bishop for
Texas Consecrated
Native of State Assigned to
See of Corpus Christi
SAN ANTONIO,—With 11 members
of the American Hierarchy and the
Apostolic Delegate to Mexico partici
pating or attending, the Most Rev.
M. S. Garriga was consecrated here as
Coadjutor Bishop of Corpus Christi
in the impressive and centuries-old
ceremony of the Catholic Church.
The Most Rev. Arthur J. Drossaerts.
Archbishop of San Antonio, was the
consecrator, while the Most Rev. Em
manuel B. Ledvina, Bishop of Corpus
Christi, and the Most Rev. Aloisius
J. Muench, Bishop of Fargo, acted as
co-consecrators. The Most Rev.
Christopher E. Byrne, Bishop of Gal
veston, preached the sermon. Bishop
Garriga is the first native of Taxes
to be a Bishop.
Continued From Page 1
at the Partridge Inn on The Hill at
10:30, President Battey presiding.
The address of welcome will be de-
lived by Thomas P. Doris, with a
response by an official of the As
sociation. Then will follow the re
ports of the state president, State
Treasurer Thomas F. Walsh, Jr., and
Richard Reid, publicity director.
There will be a discussic-> of the
reports, and also reports of the vari
ous convention committees, followed
by the other business of the conven
tion. The resolutions committee will
then report, followed by the elec
tion of officers.
All the business of the convention
will be transacted at the morning
session, in order to leave the after
noon session free for the Laetare
Medal exercises. At one o’clock the
convention luncheon will be served
at the Partridge Inn, the convention
hotel.
A few years ago the State Asso
ciation abolished the custom of the
local association of the community
which is host to the convention en
tertaining the delegates and visitors
as guests, and the custom of provid
ing a luncheon for the convienience
of the delegates and visitors and lo
cal members caring to attend it will
be followed this year as in previ
ous years. The luncheon will be one
dollar a plate, the charge made by
the hotel. The presentation exer
cises will follow at the Junior Col
lege auditorium.
Those wishing to attend the lunch
eon will be assisting the local com
mittee if they will notify the presi
dent of their local branchas soon as
possible, so that he may in turn no
tify the Augusta committee the
number to be expected for his city.
Every parish is entitled to two
voting delegates to the convention,
and every approved Georgia state,
local and parish organization is en
titled to one. such delegate. The
names of these delegates should be
sent to the office of the state asso
ciation as soon as possible, for the
convention committees are selected
from such lists of delegates. The
convention sessions are open to all
•xtorested; no special invitations are
being issued to Georgia Catholics to
the convention or presentation ex
ercises, but a cordial general invi
tation is extended to all, whether
members of the Association or not,
to attend. Catholics from other
states, and non-Catholics as well are
also most welcome.
The Junior College Auditorium is
but a short distance from the Par
tridge Inn, and the officials of the
school and of the county school sys
tem have made it available- for the
afternoon exercises because of its
larger capacity than the assembly
hall of the Partridge Inn, where the
morning session will be held. Invita
tions to the presentation exercises at
the Junior College Auditorium are
being extended to local city and
county officials, officials and mem
bers of civic clubs, officials and
members of other organizations and
the general public.
Thomas P. Doris is chairman of
the general committee of the local
association, and several meetings
have already been held to complete
arrangements for the convention.
Saturday night there will be a social
and dance at the Partridge Inn;
Sunday morning a transportation
committee will arrange for the
bringing of delegates and visitors
withous cars from St. Patrick’s
Church to the Partridge Inn. They
will also assist in getting the visi
tors from the Inn to the Junior Col
lege Auditorium. A reception com
mittee has been organized to place
itself at the service of the visitors.
Bishop O’Hara will speak on the
K. of C. Radio program in the aft
ernoon at 2:30, and the music on the
program will be provided by visitors
to the convention; J. Coleman Demp
sey is arranging the program.
Sunday evening there will be a re
ception and tea for visitors and for
Augustans at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Richard Reid at 1314 Glenn
Avenue.
It is the custom to alternate be
tween the down-town churches of
Augusta for the convention Mass.
Two years ago the Mass was at
Sacred Heart Church, and it goes to
St. Patrick’s this year. It was Co
lumbus’ turn to have the convention
but Columbus graciously yielded to
Augusta so that the Laetare Medal
might be presented to an Augustan
there.
This is the second time that such
a ceremony has been held in Geor
gia, and the second time in the
Southeast. Eight years ago the
Laetare Medal was conferred by
Colonel Jack J. Spalding, of Atlanta,
in his home city. Mr. Spalding will
be an honored guest at the Augusta
convention; he is the South’s only
living Laetare Medalist. Other
Southerners who have received it
were Admiral William S. Benson, U.
S. N., also a Georgian and honorary
vice-president of the Catholic Lay
men’s Association; Mrs. Frances
Tieman, the famous “Christian
Reid’,’ who christened “The Land of
the Sky,” and Chief Justice Edward
Douglas White, of the Unied States
Supreme Court.
Two years ago when the conven
tion was held . in Augusta, John
Moody of New York, was the prin
cipal lay speaker; last year in Sa
vannah the principal lay speaker was
Michael Williams. The 1936 conven
tion is the first one in fourteen years
not graced by the presence of the
beloved Bishop Keyes, and the first
one since Bishop O’Hara started his
conquest of the hearts of the people
of Georgia.
P. H. RICE, JR., HEADS RED
CROSS ROLL CALL IN AUGUSTA
AUGUSTA, Ga.-P. H- Rice. Jr., is
chairman of the annual Red Cross
Roll Call here, the roll call starting
in November. Mr. Rice will be a
speaker at the state conference to be
held in Gainesville,