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SIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA FEBRUARY 26, 1938
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 ol 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 1937-1938
ALFRED M BATTED Augusta President
J. J. HAVERTY, K. S. G.. Atlanta ...First Vice-President
J. B. McCALLUM. Atlanta Secretary
THOMAS F WALSH. Savannah Treasurer
RICHARD REID, Augusta Executive Secretary
MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta. Asst. Exec. Secretary
Vol. XIX February 26, 1938 No. 2
Entered as second class matter June 15, 1921, at the Post
Office at Augusta. Ga_ under act of Mairch. 1879. Ac
cepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided
for in Section 1103. Act. of October 3. 1917. authorized
September 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.
The Diocesan Census
N the history of the Diocese of Savannah-
Atlanta and its predecessor, no more im
portant effort was ever inaugurated than that
launched this week, with a census of the Cath
olics of Georgia as its first objective.
In every section of the 60,000 square miles
of Georgia territory, at the instance of the
Most Rev. Gerald P. O’Hara, D.D., J.U.D.,
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta, several hundred
workers, systematically organized, are enum
erating the sons and daughters of the Diocese
as the basis for the extension of the religious,
charitable, educational and other blessed la
bors of the Church in the Empire States of the
South.
The results of this enumeration will, we
are confident, indicate a heartening growth in
the Catholic population of Georgia in recent
years and will, we are certain, lay the founda
tion for unparalleled progress in the years im
mediately ahead.
Great meetings in the Northern and South
ern centers of the Diocese, at Atlanta and
Savannah, will follow the census, at which
plans for extension and deepening of Dioces
an activities will be discussed, formulated and
proposed to His Excellency, the Bishop.
The laity of Georgia are distinguished
throughout the United States and even the
world for their character, their zeal, their
achievements. They have never been content
to rest on their laurels. The movement before
them they will, we know, regard as a mighty
opportunity for service to Church and State,
and all will wish to share in it.
A Disheartening Trend
H ON. DAVID L. WALSH, United States Senator
from Massachusetts, the distinguished friend of
the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, which he
honors as an honorary vice-president, directed the at
tention of a mass meeting at Constitution Hall in Wash
ington to a disconcerting drop in the number of stud
ents professing religious faith.
Addressing the Committee on Religious Life in the
Nation’s Capital, with Bishop Edwin H. Hughes of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and Rabbi Edward L. Israel
also on the program, Senator Walsh quoted statistics
compiled by Dr. James A. Leuba of Bryn Mawr Col
lege which indicated the growing anti-religious trend of
education.
In one school, according to Dr. Leuba’s findings, in
1914 about 89 per cent of the freshmen were religious
believers; in 1933, only 42 per cent were in that class.
This, said Senator Walsh, was but one indication of the
religious decline in the nation, and it occasions deep
concern for the future.
“Who would have predicted a few years ago,” said
Senator Walsh, “that almost overnight a nation of pro
foundly religious people would witness the attempt of
their government not only to suppress religious liberty
but, indeed, to extinguish all religion? Yet in Soviet
Russia today a mother in her home with her children
at her knee teaching her offspring the faith of their
forefathers is faced with the dread possibility of go
ing to prison or paying a heavy fine and suffering the
moral torture of seeing her child torn from her bosom
and placed in a state school to be taught atheism.” In
Germany, too, said the Senator, “more and more chal
lenging are the threats of those who will have no king
but Caesar.”
There can be no morality without a religious founda
tion, and no religion without religious education. The
Catholic Church and her sons and daughters have there
fore made heroic sacrifices to provide religious schools
here as elsewhere. Catholic schools can influence the
fashioning of the characters of those attending them
and they can have a leavening effect on those around
them. But with less than half the students in some and
presumably many college classes professing to have no
faith and the trend in that direction increasing. Catho
lics as well as others may well consider the situation
m Russia and elsewhere, and wonder where this na
tion is headed.
“We Didn’t Know It Was Loaded”
T HE message of sympathy to the Leftist government
in Spain signed by sixty members of Congress
raises some pertinent questions.
The message of sympathy was given out for publica
tion by the Leftist Embassy in Washington, and some
of those signing were under the impression that the
Embassy itself sponsored it. Why is the Barcelona
Embassy in Washington permitted to indulge in such
patent violation of diplomatic procedure?
The message of sympathy purported to be from one
democracy to another. By what process of reasoning did
the signers arrive at the conclusion that a regime which
repudiates the fundamental principles upon which our
nation is founded is a democracy?
The message salutes a regime which has murdered
thousands and tens of thousands of clergy, religious
and men and women for no other reason than their
Christian, Catholic faith. How can any American citi
zen, in public life or private, bred in the tradition of
liberty of conscience, thus condone such diabolical out
rages?
It is true that more than half of the signers have
pleaded a misunderstanding of the nature of the greet
ing or retracted their signatures, but the lack of under
standing of a matter as threatening to the peace of the
world as the Red effort in Spain is disturbing.
There is a heartening note, however, in the fact that,
although most of the 531 members of Congress were ap
proached with a request for their signature to the greet
ings, only about eleven per cent complied, and among
these there was not a single Georgian. Nor any from
South Carolina. And only one each from North Caro
lina and Florida, with an equally sparse representation
from •other parts of the South.
A Catholic Looks at “Life”
( ( T IFE,” the pictorial magazine, recently made the |
J i Pope a defender of Fascism at the moment when
the Fascists of Italy were cordially supporting Hitler
and his Nazi who are striving to crush the Church. It
again outdistances accurate rivals by depicting the Duke
of Norfolk and a group of English Catholics greeting
Cardinal Hinsley in London, for which, according to
“Life,” they “got a plenary indulgence (i. e., full par
don to date from purgatory)”.
On previous occasions when “Life” misstated facts
about Catholics or Catholic teaching in such a way as
to hold Catholics up to ridicule, its editors were respect
fully requested to consult the Catholic Encyclopedia, the
Catholic Directory or a penny catechism before attribut
ing beliefs or practices to Catholics, or to make proper
inquiry.
Had “Life” followed that logical and honest procedure,
its editors would have learned how ridiculous is its con
ception of the Catholic doctrine of indulgences. They
would have been informed that to gain an indulgence it
is necessary that one be free from mortal sin, be pen
itent for his sins, have a firm resolution to sin no more,
and perform the works required for the indulgence.
The Catholic teaching on indulgences is so clear and
definite that children in the lower grades of Catholic
schools and in Sunday schools can explain it as readily
as they enumerate the commandments. Editors who
undertake to inform millions of ■ readers on a subject
ought to have at least as accurate an understanding of
the subject as children in primary grades.
T HE report of the death in China of Father
’ Donovan of Pittsburgh, Maryknoll missionary
killed by bandits, again demonstrates that the age of
martyrs is still with us. Father Donovan refused to
consider having ransom paid for his return, feeling that
such procedure would encourage other kidnappings.
The grief of the Marynoll Fathers at the death of their
beloved associate is tempered by the thought that they
have given a martyr to the cause of Christ.
A Movement for Decency
T HE MOST REV. JOHN F. NOLL, D.D., Bishop of
Fort Wayne and editor of Our Sunday Visitor, the
students of the University of Notre Dame and or
ganizations in several sections of the country are engag
ed in an effort for decency which is demanded by con
ditions in every city in the United States, the eliminat
ing of indecency from the magazine racks of the nation.
A few years ago magazines which are now considered
anything but the worst offenders would have landed
their publishers behind the bars for corrupting public
morals. Some are so lewd that they are barred from
the mails, but are carted from city to city and state to
state by other methods of transportation.
Many parents have been shocked at what they hap
pened to find on the magazine stands of drug stores pat
ronized by members of families who are of high school
age. Those who do not know the character of the sala
cious literature on many of these stands in stores which
are headquarters for their young people are remiss in
their duty.
Educators have placed the blame for numerous apall-
ing crimes on the influence of such literature, and very
frankly say that it constitutes one of the greatest prob
lems at this time, with many circulating libraries ac
centuating it.
A few days ago news stories from Egypt stated that
the Mohammedan officials there had barred as encourag
ing to immorality a magazine published in the United
States and found on nearly every newsstand here.
A concerted movement on the part of all persons with
moral sensibilities to end this evil is long overdue. Free
dom of the press does not mean license, and license un
curbed may one day endanger the freedom to which it
is recreant.
Dixie Musings
Billy Coppock, in his column in the
Columbus News-Record, reminds us
that Father James J. Salway, C. M.,
pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Phenix
City, Ala., across the river from Co
lumbus, once played big league base
ball, wtih the Boston Red Sox.
The British have placed insuper-
erable obstacles in the way of the
holding of the International Atheistic
Congress there, and now the Com
munist sponsors of the Congress are
planning to hold it in America.
The practical British are not bluff
ed into allowing Reds to overrun their
country and to use such a congress as
a sounding-board for their propa
ganda by any high-sounding referen
ces to freedom of speech. They are
not allowing liberty to degenerate in
to license.
A generation ago a dying Catholic
mother begged her non-Catholic hus
band to have their little son educaied
in Catholic schools. He promised, and
was faithful to that promise. As a re
sult that son is this month being con
secrated Bishop of Owensboro, Ky.,
the Most Rev. Francis Cotton, D.D.
Congressman Jerry O'Connell of
Montana, who boasts of his Catholi
cism although our information is that
he was married in a manner which
defies the laws of the Church, now
discovers that Hitler is brewing an
uprising in Mexico against the Unit
ed States, making the Southern Re
public a base for German, Italian and
Japanese operations against this
country. Secretary of tSate Hull.
The Congressman who is now so ex
cited over imaginary dangers seemed
to have no trouble holding his peace
during actual Communistic activities
there.
The attitude of most .Americans to
ward Communism and all brands of
Fascism is: “A plague on all your
houses.” We have heard Communists
stand up in public squares in this
country and call for the overthrow of
our system of government by force if
necessary. The Fascists are too busy
with their own affairs to bother much
about ours.
The attempt to make the Pope an
advocate of Fascism ought to be rec
ognized as ridiculous by all right-
thinking men, especially in view of the
Italian government's condoning of
the perscution of the Church by Hit
ler and his Nazis.
Principal T. Harry Garrett of Tub-
man High Schol for Girls in Augusta—
he has been principal there for thir
ty-four years—does not believe in co
education for girls and boys of high
school age. That is the Catholic posi
tion, and the Church makes exceptions
only where separate schools are not
possible.
Justice Cardoza, whose retirement
from the Supreme Court is rumored,
is of Jewish extraction and therefore
considered of foreign stock, although
his" great-uncle assisted in the admin
istration of the oath of office to
George Washington when he first be
came president of the United States.
The Buffalo Echo reports that a
Georgian, stopped by a traffic cop and
asked if he was going to a fire, said he
was.
Neal O’Hara in his syndicated col
umn tells of the Paulist Fathers with
their trailer, phonograph records and
film shorts used on the Tennessee
missions. Father Cunningham, head
of the expedition, says: If you
preach a fifteen-minute sermon,
you’re a sissy. They can take it down
there.”
Woodrow Wilson started the prac
tice of law. in Atlanta in the fall of
1882, according to a question and an
swer column; “his practice in Atlanta
was not particularly successful, and he
left in September, 1883, to go to Bal
timore.” How many lawyers are "par
ticularly successful” in their first year
of independent practice?
A two-year-old California girl can
name all the Supreme Court Justices,
which prompts a columnist’s remark
that President Roosevelt wishes he
could.
Tom Heflin is out of the United
States Senate now for no other rea
son than his Pope-baiting. Had he
stuck to his humorous stories on the
stump and his picturesque dress in
the Senate, the people of Alabama
would no doubt have kept him in the
Senate. They ditched him when he
started making the state as well as
himself ridiculous.
We're been wondering where Heflin
got the votes he did get, and the po
litical commentators explain it by
saying that the Old Guard in Alabama
supported Heflin as a "candidate of
convenience” against Congressman
Hill, whom they don't like, with the
intention of grooming a candidate
against Heflin to defeat him at the end
of the short term. But the voters of
Alabama crossed them up.
The Georgia Supreme Court has or
dered new trials for two Negroes ac
cused of killing a white man at Co
lumbus last July. The Supreme Court
overruled the Superior Court because
of its failure to charge voluntary man
slaughter and justifiable homicide.
The evidence indicated that the defen
dants killed the victim, but there was
a dispute about the circumstances.
The tax-collector at Ringgold, Ga.,
is accused of trying to collect a two
dollar tax on a goat under the provi
sion that there shall be a tax of fifty
cents per running foot on all pro
perty abounding and abutting on the
public streets.
A jury trying a Negro in the Ful
ton County Superior Court on the
charge of the illegal possesion of li
quor was, according to the Dawson
News, asked by one of the jurors how
many of them ever had a quart of li
quor in their possession. Twelve hands
were raised. The subsequent verdict
read: “We find the defendant not
guilty.”
James Thurber, who writes whole
some and highly amusing pieces for
The New Yorker, has written a book:
“Let Your Mind Alone”, which The
Echo recommends very highly. Mr.
Thurber devastates the horde of psy
chologists turned racketeers with pro
mises of success by the fifteen-min-
ute-a-day method. We've always
wanted to write such a book, but have
been too busy. Mr. Thurber's effort
sets our mind at ease.
Ernest Camp writes in the Monroe
Tribune: "I saw my first Cardinal
last Sunday.” We relaxed, prepare to
read about some ceremony in a great
Cathedral, when he continues: “He
appeared at the bird bath in my yard
and seemed to enjoy his shower.”
Which reminds us of a story which
Edison Marshall, Augusta’s ace nove
list and short-story writer thinks is
good. A very prim lady of apparently
Puritan ancestry asked a clerk in a
book-store for a reading suggestion.
He recommended “The Kentucky Car
dinal by James Lane Allen. James
Allen Lane. The lady flared: “I am
not interested in Roman churchmen!”
“But this cardinal is a bird,” the clerk
explained. “I have no doubt about
it!” she snapped.
The Universe of London reports that
a radio broadcaster representing him
self to be the Bishop of Teruel in Spain
is making talks over the air for the
Leftist government in Spain giving a
rosy picture of conditions there and
describing in glowing terms the treat
ment of prisoners, of which the real
Bishop of Teruel is one. The report
comes from an English journalist just
back from Red territory in Spain.
The Southern Israelite in Atlanta
says editorially: "Freedom of opinion,
however, is threatened by too lax a
hand. The return of Father Cough
lin to the air constitutes a serious in
fringement upon the tolerance hy the
American people of free thought.” We
haven’t been able to figure that one
out.
President Lazardo Cardenas of
Mexico, where the Catholic Church is
forbidden by law to own property, to
conduct schools, to educate priests, to
conduct services in public, to have
more than a stipulated number of
priests, in some places one per 50,000
people, etc., in a public statement re
cently quoted in the New York Times,
says: "Today Mexican Bishops can
not even assert that they are being
attacked or call attention to one single
act of intolerance by the Mexican au
thorities." There is a recesssion in
persecution in Mexico, but in the light
of such an attitude on the part of the
ruler of the nation, one would be
more than credulous to believe that
there has been any fundamental
change giving ground for hope.
Beth Williams in the Quitman, Ga.,
Free Press, quotes young swains there
on their attitude toward the war some
people seem to see impending. Said
one: ' They’ll have to burn the woods
and sift the ashes to get me in.”
Editor Thomas Seawell of the Win
der, Ga., News remarks that the chief
problem before the members of Con
gress is getting re-elected.
We once heard a Protestant minister
publicly state that between a system
of 350,000,00 Fopes and one Pope, he
preferred the one Pope.
About the vote of the Georgia legis
lature on the liquor question, all that
we shall say is that Eishop Cannon
and those of his co-workers who
sought to make the wet-dry fight a
Catholic vs. Protestant battle can t
blame the Catholics for the action of
the Georgia solons.
Dr. William Lyon Phelps, asked in
Augusta if Gene Tunney made a cre
ditable . showing while teaching
Shakespeare at Yale, said Tunney
looked better in the professional chair
teaching Shakespeare than the Doc
tor would in the ring fighting Demp
sey.
We once had the pleasure of intro
ducing Dr. Phelps and announcing
that he planned to bring “Babe" Ruth
to Yale to lecture on Homer, some
thing Dr. Phelps said was news to
him, but good news.
Which reminds us that The Com
monweal, edited by Catholic laymen
in New York had an extended and
appreciative article on Dr. Phelps
recently by Dr. Joseph Reilly, profes
sor of English at Hunter College of
Columbia University, New York. A
professor in one of our leading Cath
olic universities recently told us that
Dr. Phelps was the leading factor in
promoting graduate work by Catho
lics at Yale a generation ago. Dr.
Phelps, professor emeritus of English
literature at Yale, is an ordained
, Baptist minister, that being, it appears
one of his several avocations.