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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
APRIL 30, 1937
THE BULLETIN
The Official Organ oi the Catholic Laymen’s
Association of Georgia
RICHARD REID, Editor
815-816 Lamar Building Augusta, Georgia
Subscription Price 52.00 Per Year
Publisheo monthly by the Publicity Department
with the Approbation of the Most Rev. Bishops of
Raleigh Charleston. Savannah St Augustine and Nasb-
ville and of the Rt Rev Abbot Ordinary of Belmont.
ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1936-1937
ALFRED M BATTEY Augusta President
J. J. HAVERTY, K. S. G.. Atlanta ...First Vice-President
3 B McCALLUM. Atlanta -Secretary
THOMAS F. WALSH, Savannah Treasurer
RICHARD REID. Augusta Publicity Director
MISS OF.CILE FERRY Aireusta. Asst. Publicity Director
Vol. XV7II
April 30. 1937
No. 4
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921. at the Post
Office at Augusta, Gat 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
Sentember L 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.
An Anonymous Warning
(t ’ | 'HE FORUM,” which prides itself on being a
A medium of controversy, recently published an
article: “A Priest Warns the Church”, by “Peter Whif
fen.” The author prefers to write anonymously.
“Peter Whiffen” senses a subdued antagonism to
ward priests in his travels around New York, an antago
nism which he says is new in his experience. Many
other priests who do not write about the Church anony
mously have sensed the same thing. They attribute it
to the inroads of Communism. “Peter Whiffen” knows
better. He attributes it to “the wealth of the clergy.”
Not only priests have sensed this hostility in metro
politan areas. Nuns have felt it. They likewise feel
that it is due to the accelerated propaganda of atheistic
radicals. The Little Sisters of the Poor sense it as they
go about seeking the means to feed and clothe their
homeless charges. The nuns in the orphanages and the
hospitals and in the schools for the poor know about it.
"Peter Whiffen”, if he be consistent, must tell them they
are wrong; it is due to their “wealth.”
“Peter Whiffin” is an humble man. Father Duffee
complains that there are 30.000 communists working day
and night in America. “Peter Whiffin” strikes his breast
for the 30,000 priests in the United States. “More shame
to us 30,000 priests in our aloofness from the crowd and
in our lives of soft, superior seclusions.” All 30,000 of
“us.”
“Peter Whiffen” might be even more humble. He might
strike his breast not for 30.000 priests, but for himself,
if his is a life of “aloofness from the crowd” and of “soft,
superior secluson.” In all the Southeast we know of no
priests who fit his description. In Florida there are
priests in whose parishes there are . in the winter time
men and women of millions; the priests do not neglect
them, but most of their time is devoted to the over
whelming majority of those in moderate circumstances
and those who serve the wealthy. That is true like
wise of the clergy of the New York parishes in the
neighborhood of Fifth and Park Avenues.
“Peter Whiffin” in his entire article says not a word
about the great institutions of charity erected and sup
ported by the faithful under the leadership of their
Bishops and priests, and made possible through the sac
rifices cf the priests and nuns who serve them. His criti
cism resembles that of an ex-priest, writing recently in
a national magazine, who called Sisters educating the
well-to-do snobs, and those ministering to the poor pan
handlers.
This anenymovis critic of tire Church, who broadcast
his criticism to those who have no connection with it
and are therefore in no position to do anything about it
even if it were true, reveals his instability when, after
endeavoring to impress on his readers a picture of a
life of “soft, superior seclusion” of priests in this
country, says of American priests serving on foreign
missions: “In reality, most of them live better than
their brethren at home.”
“Peter Whiffin” c3n cite cases of some members of our
clergy who do have a comfortable share of this world's
goods. Many of them inherit wealth from their fami
lies. A lew have exceptionally generous friends and
parishoners. Most of these use their means for the ex
tension of the work of the Church; one priest in a
Diocese, of the Southeast has out of his inherited wealth
erected two churches, a school for the' colored, restored
another church and made contributions of tens of thou
sands of dollars to hospitals and other institutions of
mercy. Members of religious orders, and half the
priests of the Diocese of Savannah, are members of re
ligious orders or societies, are paid no salary, receive
only their living and necessities, and are not permitted
to accumulate property.
“Peter Whiffen” can without doubt cite some exam
ples of lives of “soft, superior seclusion” among the thir
ty thousand members of the Catholic clergy in the Unit
ed States, human nature being what it is. But he has
forgotten or ignered one of the first principles of logic
impressed on him in the days of his study of philosophy,
that you cannot draw universal conclusions from in
adequate particular premises.
Bishop Lucey of Amarillo, Texas told women there in
terested in the principles of social justice that the place
to start applying these principles is in the home, and in
the wages they paid to their help.
The Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta
T HE ceremony at the Cathedral of St- John the Bap
tist in Savannah, Thursday, April 15, inaugurating
the Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta, raises this year of Our
Lord to the dignity of that of 1850, the year of the found
ing of the Diocese, in the history of the Church in
Georgia.
Within a decade and a half of its centenary, the gen
erations intervening since the establishment of the Dio
cese have been years of loving toil, generous self-sacri
fice,* and progress which, although slow, has been heart
ening indeed against the background of the limited num
bers and means of the faithful in the Empire State of
the South. •
In these years there have clustered around the name
of Savannah traditions which secure for it for all time
a glorious place in the history of American Sees. It was
here that the saintly Bishop Gartland laid down his life
for his people, ravaged by yellow fever, now
a memory in Georgia. It was from Savannah that the
beloved Bishop Barry went abroad to mend his
health broken in the service of his people, only to die by
the banks of the Seine. It was from Savannah that the
saintly Sulpician, Bishop Verot, went down to Florida to
become the first Bishop of the new Diocese of St. Augus
tine, the oldest city in continental United States.
It is one of Savannah’s most precious memories that
the illustrious but humble Capuchin Monk, Ignatius Fer-
sico, presided over the destinies of the See in the course
of a distinguished career which led him subsequently to
an Arehiepiseopal See in Italy and membership in the
Sacred College of Cardinals. From Savannah also the
able Redemptorist Bishop Gross—went to the young
Northwest as Archbishop of Oregon City, to be succeed
ed by the zealous Dr. Becker, one of the most learned
of American prelates of his day, anointed by the holy-
oils of Episcopal consecration as Bishop of Wilming
ton, Delaware, in the same ceremony which started Bish
op James Gibbons, vicar-apostolic of North Carolina, on
the road which led him to international blessed emi
nence.
Next came the golden-hearted Bishop Benjamin J.
Keiley, whose name, as his Excellency, Archbishop Cur
ley said at the Cathedral last week, became synonymous
with Savannah, and who added new lustre to the glory
of Georgia’s See City. And then Savannah had the
privilege of receiving the gentle, lovable Marist Bish
op Michael J. Keyes, who after a fruitful episcopacy in
one of the most trying periods of American economic
history, retired with the honor of Assistant at the Pon
tifical Throne upon him as an indication of the affection
of the Holy Father, and whom the city still insists on
claiming as her very own.
In Savannah a year ago January the Most Rev. Gerald
P. O’Hara, D.D., J.U.D., formerly Auxiliary Bishop of
Philadelphia, was installed as Ordinary by His Emi
nence, the Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia, in a
ceremony which will be remembered as long as the city
recalls anything.
These are memories which are of the warp and woof
of the city’s history, with countless other glorious and
stirring pages. They are as permanently a part of Sa
vannah as the river which carries her commerce or the
ocean which heats on her shores nearby.
But the time has conle, in the considered judgment of
His Excellency, our Bishop, with the wholehearted ap
proval of the Holy Father, for Savannah to share with
her sister city of Atlanta, for the greater honor and glory
of God, the honors that have been 'hers these eighty-
seven years. Savannah has never. been lacking in the
spirit of sacrifice, and, inspired by the same zeal for the
salvation of souls that inspires our- Bishop, Savannah,
like all Georgia, generously endorses the plan to make
the Capital City of the state another great official cen
ter of Catholic activity.
The story of the growth of Atlanta is one of the most
stirring in the history of the nation. One hundred years
there was no Atlanta. There are Catholics in the city
still active who knew it as a comparatively new and
small community. Its advancement to the position of
the metropolis of the Southeast and to one of the cities
cf major importance in the United States has few paral
lels; few cities have finer prospects.
From Savannah to Atlanta, from the residence of the
Bishop to the Capital City and metropolis of the state,
is approximately three hundred miles, about that from
Cincinnati to Chicago, or Montreal to Boston, or Phila
delphia to Boston, or New York to Fredericksburg, Va.
This distance has been a handicap which has become
accentuated as the Church in Atlanta grew; it promised
to become a greater handicap, rather than diminish.
And when one considers that to visit the flourishing
parish at Rome, the Bishop of Savannah was required
to go a distance almost equal to that from Washington
to Cleveland, Ohio, or to the suburbs of Albany, N. Y.,
the difficulty of frequent contact in the far-flung dio
cese is evident, and the desirability of His Excellency
residing in Atlanta at intervals during the year obvious.
It is therefore to consolidate the facilities of the Dio
cese, to expand their possibilities for the salvation
of souls, and to keep pace with-.the recent growth
of Atlanta and North Georgia that Savannah, while re
taining the prestige that is hers as the Ancient See as
well as a current and future one, shares her honors with
her great sister city. In sharing the honor, she like
wise shares the responsibility. From this time forward,
the effort of the Church in Georgia “to restore all things
in Christ” will radiate from two official centers in Geor
gia, with a resulting quickerung of activity in every
parish center from TVbee Light to Rabun Gap, from
Alabama to the sea, “Ad Majorem Gloriam Dei.”
Dixie Musings
Good Friday observance was more
widespread this year in the Southeast
than ever before. We even noted ref
erences to sermons on “The Seven
Last Words” in some Protestant
Churches.
In one Southern city where Good
Friday observance is growing, the
merchants met to discuss closing from
12 to 3. One store manager, a new
comer to the city, objected. After the
meeting others inquired about his ob
jection. "I’m in favor of the idea,” he
explained, “but not this year. It
would hurt our Easter business. I
thought we ought to start it some oth
er year when Good Friday is not so
close to Easter.”
Mrs. L. C. Werder, of Atlanta,
writes to the Atlanta Journal to voice
her disapproval of all these Irish
songs on the radio around St. Pat
rick^ Day, the burden of which is
a desire to go back to the old coun
try when finances permit. "Our coun
try is a land cf opportunity for ev
erybody—no one is forced to come
here and make their fortune—and
having done so, perhaps a sense of ap
preciation „ is in order.”
That’s getting them told. And now
we’d like to hear the good lady on our
boys and girls who go to New York,
Chicago and other foreign parts to
make their fortunes, and who warble
their yearning to return one day to
the jasmine and magnolias. Have
they, too, no sense cf appreciation?
And speaking of warbling and its
kith and kin, a Boston newspaper
photographer swore out a Warrant
charging Rudy Valee with assault and
battery because Rudy, so the photog
rapher said, knocked him down and
broke his camera when he started to
take a picture of the crooner as he
and a young lady left the theatre.
Shown the picture in court, Judge
Michael J. Murray asked: “Who's
that?” “Rudy Valee.” he was told.
Said the judge: “Who’s he?” Thus
does Boston retain its reputation for
culture.
Dr. William Lyon Phelps once said
that there were three persons he
would gladly slay, Aimee Semple
McPherson, Huey Long and Rudy
Valee, “for God. country and for
Yale.” Rudee is a Yale man. Aimee
and Huey were supposed to have
some connection with God and coun
try.
'popular tribunal’, the trial moves
speedily to conclusion. Appeals are
rare. The death sentence, when im
posed, is carried out within twenty-
four hours.”
“Defeatist crimes,” as listed by the
Associated Press, include “listening to
radio broadcasts from insurgent ter-
ritory, criticism erf any government
•official or any official decision, dis
paragement of any military maneu
ver, hint of a military setback, com
plaint about shortage of food, failure
to appear optimistic over government
chances in the civil war.” Such are
these advocates and defenders and
protectors of “liberty” and “democ
racy.”
“High Lights,” a publication of the
Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, in a
recent issue ardently espoused the
“Child Labor Amendment” which
would give Congress the power to
regulate, limit and forbid the labor of
persons up to the age of eightee
and in another section of the sa
issue objected to legislation whi
brings youths sixteen and seventee
years old into the Children’s Cour
asserting that they are adolescents.
A New York judge speaking in Mi
ami asserted that much of the juve
nile delinquency with which he cam
in contact in his court could he traced
to laws which forbade occupation
for children who would not go to
school or whose mental equipment
made their time in school wasted.
Many a youngster is not able to ab
sorb any of the matter taught in high
school, although he did fairly well in
grammar school. Finishing grammar
school at 13. he-cannot in many states
engage in labor until he is 16. The
“Child Labor Amendment” gives
Congress the power to raise that limit
to eighteen. What is he to do during
these three or five years? Be a dead
weight on teachers in classrooms? Or
roam the streets, meeting with the
temptations that come to idlers?
The Madison Madisonian, edited by
the genial and beloved W. T. Bacon,
has an editorial on the long and mer
itorious service of Hon. M. A. Mc
Dowell. who recently retired as may
or of Madison. "Mayor McDowell is
an alien,” says Editor Bacon, “coming
here some 20 years ago from our sis
ter county of Jasper.”
Dudley Glass in the Atlanta Geor
gian tells how he and Dan McGuirk
put on a John McCormack concert in
Atlanta years ago. Dan came back
from Chicago raving about the gold
en-voiced singer, whose star was just
then rising. He invited Dudley to join
him in presenting Mr. McCormack to
an Atlanta audience. In their enthu
siasm they soon found themselves ob
ligated for a New York draft for $1,-
500 and a contract for the Atlanta
Auditorium, not to mention other ex
penses.
Thanksgiving Day was the day of
the McCormack recital. Dudley and
Dan opened the ticket sale three days
in advance. The weather was sloppy,
and so were the sales; Thanksgiving
Bay came and they had S800.
against expenses of about $5,500. The
day dawned clear and bright. There
was a big football game in town.
When Dan and Dudley got down to
look things over, there was a line be
fore the box office that seemed a mile
long. The banks were closed and they
had a difficult time getting change;
they milked all the hbtels and restau
rants for loose coins.
That night John McCormack faced
practically a rapacity audience. His
manager got the $4,500, all other ex
penses were paid, and the promoters
reaped a substantial profit. But if the
day had been wet and sloppy—well,
Dudley might now be a long distance
from Atlanta instead of delighting
Atlantans with the Georgian and
American's “News and Views”. Dan
McGuirk died not long after. This Mc
Cormack concert was the beginning
of the popularity cf good concerts in
Atlanta.
Real child labor is an abomination,
a crime against civilization. Occupa
tion for children, with due regard to
their strength of body and mind, is a
blessing, and an aid in the develop
ment of character. In the United
States, we have a habit of going from
one extreme to the other. From the
evils of child labor we are apt to flee
into the difficulties of child idleness.
‘In medio stat virtus.”
Jere M. Moore’s Milledgeville Re
corder reports that the live oak has
heen named Georgia’s official tree,
pid it recalls that the Cherokee rose
is the official flower. It was news to
us that the brown thrasher is Geor
gia’s official bird. Our observation
had led us to believe it was the swal
low. Followed by a lark.
Benedict Elder in The Record of
Louisville, Ky., takes the position, as
all Catholics must with him. that re
turning churches to Catholics with
out permitting priests to officiate in
them, as is being done in certain
places in Mexico, is no ground for
optimism. There can be a Church
without edifices, but none without
priests.
There are people who read of
churches being returned to Catholics,
and then of further protests from
Catholics; they then wonder if there
is any way of satisfying the Catho
lics. That is precisely, it seems to
us, what the Mexican Government
and other governments hostile to the
Church and to religion intend the
reaction of the public to be. But
people will net always be fooled by
such insults to their intelligence.
King George Vi’s coronation oath
omits the phrases, “By tlie Grace of
God. Defender of the Faith,” taken
by every English monarch since Hen
ry VIII. He will promise to “main
tain in the United Kingdom the
Protestant Reformed Religion estab
lished by law.” Previous kings prom
ised to maintain it in Britain's do
minions and colonies as well.
Down in Savannah the United
States Commissioner bound over a
defendant on the charge that he re
filled whiskey bottles. In Augusta the
usual charge is emptying them.
The (Russian) Radio Front in its
February issue announced that the
Holy Father has appointed Signor
Marconi, inventor of wireless, a Car
dinal in recognition of his eminent
scientific achievements. But don’t
quote us, because it isn’t so.
Up in Elberton. Ga., there was some
confusion when 13 jurors tried to sit
in a jury box with its 12 chairs. The
clerk called the roll again to discover
the 13th man. and found that two J.
B. Adamses had responded.
The Leftist champions of “liberty”
and "democracy” in Spain have
strange views of what constitutes
them. The Associated Press in infor
mation sent by mail from Paris re
ports that in Leftist territory arrests
for "defeatist” crimes are mounting,
anld the secret police -are every where.
"An incautious word, a light joke, a
greeting is enough to cause arrest.
. . . Once arrested, one is never free
of suspicion. Once taken before the
The King will further promise to
“maintain and preserve inviolably the
settlement of the Church of England
and the doctrine, worship, discipline
and government thereof, as by law
established in England, and to pre
serve unto the Bishops and Clergy
of England, and to the churches
there committed to their charge all
such rights and privileges as by law
do or shall appertain to them, or any
of them.”
The VeterEuns of Foreign Wars
write us asking for the co-operation
of The Bulletin in urging assistance
to their Poppy Day program on Na
tional Memorial Day, when they sell
the flowers to raise relief work funds.
The President has endorsed the
movement, and many Catholic organ
izations participate in it. Bulletin
readers will, we know, support it
generously.
We were invited to be a mounted
aide in the Confederate Memorial
Day parade in Augusta, but had to
decline because our horsemanship is
not what it used to be. And we were
referred to in an introduction at a
Pilot Club convention as a “gray
haired gentleman” just two days be
fore. So age must be creeping upon
“Communism,” says Monsignor Ful
ton Sheen, “is Fascism, only more
And the Oakland Tribune defines
Modernism as doing what you please,
followed by aspirin. R. R.