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TEN THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA MARCH 26, 1938 Florida N. C. C. W. Convention in Tallahassee APRIL 19-21 DATES OF ANNUAL MEETING Miss Lenna Wilson, Field Representative, Recent Visitor to Diocese (Special to The Bulletin) JACKSONVILLE, Fla —Tallahassee will be host to the annual convention of the St. Augustine Diocesan Council of the National Council of Catholic Women, Mrs. George P. Coyle, Dio cesan president, announced here af ter the recent quarterly meeting; the hales selected are April 19-21, inclu sive. and the Floridian Hotel is head quarters. Four deanery meetings were held in the four sections of Florida on the occasion of the visit to the state and Diocese of Miss Lenna Wilson, Wash ington, D. C., field representative of the National Council of Catholic Wo men. Mrs. Coyle, Diocesan President, and Mrs. J. W. McCollum, former president and now a member of the national board of directors and eo- chaiiman of organization of the na tional board, accompanied Miss Wil son. Everywhere they were received most graciously and entertained most hospitably, and at St. Augustine they were received by the Most Rev. Pat rick Barry, D. D., Bishop of St. Au gustine, who complimented the organ ization on its fine work in the Diocese and expressed his hope that it would grow and flourish in even greater measure. ST. LEO ABBEY College announces that Camp St. Leo will open for the summer season June 26, closing Au gust 7. Extensive plans are already being put into effect to extend the facilities of the summer camp. THE SALESIAN Orphanage near Tampa, where the homeless little boys of the Diocese are housed, has been notified through Father Rinaldi, sup erior. that half the estate of Gustave Pitscher of Grant Wood, N. 7.. has been left to the home for a new build ing. The size of the estate is undisclos ed but it is believed to be substantial. Mr. Pitscher, a winter visitor here, buried his wife here in 1932, and since had become well acquainted and very much attached to the boys and thj orphanage. ST. PETERSBURG parishoners of the Rev. James J. O'Riordan who ob served the silver jubilee of his or dination £■;. Patrick’s Day, arc rallying to his supert in his effort to reduce the church debt with a campaign in augurated at the jubilee dlnnar at which $13,500 was subscribed. The Rev. George J. Hafford, pastor of SL Francis of Assisi Church, New York, was the principal speaker at the din ner. KEY WESTS Church of St. Mary Star of the Sea, had a mission the last week in February, conducted by the Rev. John M. McCreary, S. J., of the Southern Jesuit Mission Band. It was splendidly attended. KEV. A. L. MAUREAU, S. J., de livered the benediction at the exer cises at Key West marking the thirt ieth anniversary of the sinking of the Battleship Maine. Father Maureau al so addressed the Pan-American Poet ry Society at Key West recently on Subjects for Poetry.” JACKSONVILLE’S St. Patrick’s Day programs included dances spon sored by Father Maher and Bishop Kenny Councils of Knights of Colum bus, the St. Patrick’s Day entertain ment of Immaculate Conception parish, and other activities. P. DONALD DellOFF is president of the new Jacksonville Chapter of the alumni of the University of Florida. AL LASTINGER of Lakeland, set ting sail on a solo trip from Tampa to Genoa, Italy, in an 18-foot sail boat, completed his preparations by asking the Rev. F. J. Clarkson, S. J.. pastor of Sacred Heart Church, to bless his craft. He has a letter of introduction from Governor Cone which he hopes to present to Fremier Mussolini. Three years ago he tried a similar experi ment, only to have his boat spring a leak. He hopes to make the 5,000 miles in 120 days. He is a former seaman and aviator in China. CATHEDRAL PARISH in St. Au gustine sponsored its annual Mardi Gras the days preceding Ash Wed nesday at the Columbus Club on Davis Island. The results exceeded op timistic expectations. MSGR. D. A. LYONS was the guest speaker at the March meeting of the Catholic Club of Business and Pro fessional Women. Miss Alice Dorsey presided. IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Par ish Sodality in Jacksonville will pre sent a minstrel show after the Easter season. MRS. G. H. McINTYRE, recently elected state vice-regent of the Catho lic Daughters of America, was honor ed with a reception at the Roosevelt Hotel, Jacksonville, _ sponsored by Immaculate Conception Court. MISS MARIE CAPPICK of Key West is having her latest book. ''Is land Pageant” published in New York. The work is a history'of picturesque Key West and its vicinity. JACOB SCIIEEIBEE. winter visitor in Key West, recently entertained the faculty and students at Mary Im maculate Convent Auditorium with a news review' of the year in film and sound. -*» by contributing to the RICA SPANISH RELIEF FUND (Registered State Department, Washington, D, C.) NATIONAL AND CATHOLIC DIOCESAN MOVEMENT National Committee — 342 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. SPANISH CHILDREN Must Be Saved! Can Help J. C. D0ERNER DIES— JACKSONVILLE LEADER (Special to The Bulletin) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — John C. Doerner, retired broker, and for many years president of the Doern- er-Bryant Company, Inc., died early in March, aged 64. years. Bom in Cumberland, Md., he was South ern manager for the J. H. Heinz Com pany for years, with headquarters in Savannah. His wife, two sisters and a brother survive. He was a mem ber of the Church of the Assumption, South Jacksonville. HAROLD USINA, a member of a prominent Florida family, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Usina, and active in Scouting until his final illness, died in St. Augustine recently. He was a member of the Church of the As sumption, South Jacksonville. He was graduated from high school in 1934. MRS. HAZEL M. IRONMONGER, wife of Frank M. Ironmonger, Jr., died in Miami at the age of 39. The funeral was held from the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Jack sonville. Interment was in St. Mary’s Cemetery. Surviving Mrs. Ironmon ger, in addition to her husband, are her daughter, her son, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Henry O'Neil, of Jacksonville, and her sister, Mrs. Cyril S. Sedding. MICHAEL MASSAMERI, a native of Syria, where he v/as born 64 years ago, and a member of the Immacu late Conception Church, died recent ly. He was in the grocery business here for many years. FLORIDA MARRIAGES O 0 1 -o RAY-TUCKER—The Rt. Rev. Msgr. D. A. Lyons, pastor of St. Paul’s Church, Jacksonville, officiated at the marriage of Miss Eleanor Cullen Ray, daughter of Mrs. James C. Ray, and Joseph Wade Tucker, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wade Tucker, of Madison. LOCHRIE-FEE—The Rev John J. O’Looney officiated at the marriage of Miss Mary Jane Lochrie, of Wind- ber, Pa., and David Fee, of Fort Pierce, the ceremony being perform ed at Fort Lauderdale. They will make their home in Fort Pierce. Marist Missionary Relates Experiences in South Seas Father A. J. Laplante, S.M., Survives Floods, Hurricanes and Shark-Infested Waters of Fiji Islands (By N. C. W. C. News Service) NEW YORK. — Survivor of three South Sea hurricanes, floods 40-feet high, shark-infested waters, re markable cures and a score of other experiences, a modest Catholic mis- sioner has arrived here after serving 10 years among the Fiji Islanders. He is the Rev. A. J. Laplante, S. M., an American-born Marist. stocky and as strong as a college athlete. Working with 16 Catholic mission- ers on the island of Viti Levu inhab ited by 75,000 Fiji Island natives, he has brought back with him a com plete motion picture record of na tive life, depicting paradoxical feats of the Fiji Islanders and the laudable work of the missioners among these picturesque inhabitants of the South Seas. He is visiting the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Thomas J. McDonnell, Nation al Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, and in the course of his sojourn in the United States expects to visit his Marist eonfereres in Georgia. Arriving in the Fiji Islands in Oct ober, 1937, within three weeks he had constructed a water supply sys tem. Within six weeks he taught the natives how to improve their crops by plowing and scientific planting. In three months the Fiji Islanders, under Father Laplante’s direction, were building sea-worthy boats in stead of native rafts. “Twice a year”, Father Laplante said at the headquarters of the Socie ty for the Propagation of the Faith, “the Fiji natives on Viti Levu spend days in preparation for their semi annual fishing expedition—Vara Wai, they call it, or combing the river.- This necessitates the construction of a gargantuan tennis like net of woven matting, about 300 feet long and ten feet wide. It is stretched across a shark infested river by men and women, hip and shoulder deep in the water and it it held there until the male members of the tribe drive the sharks and fish into the encircling net. Then it is slowly pulled toward shore, like a seine, and here takes place a phenomenon I cannot explain. church is located, are the happiest people in the world—proud of their work for they helped to build it. It is known as the Church of St. Teresa of the Little Flower.” Buli-Bamana, tribal chief of Bama- na, had suffered for six years from a terrible skin disease which almost resulted in the loss of an arm. The ministrations of Sister Sabine, of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, who has served in Fiji for -25 years, effected a remarkable cure, and as evidence of his devotion and gratitude, he and his tribesmen help ed to build the modern church. “No—we don’t have thievery in the Fiji Islands. We just have what you might think is a very peculiar cus tom,” explained Father Laplante. "If a native goes visiting and sees a shirt, soap, cooking utensil or some thing that strikes his fancy in his host’s cabin, he just picks it up and takes it home with him. Native court esy denies even mentioning the word don’t. You’ve just got to be relieved of whatever your guest likes and get it back on your next visit to his home or something else its equivalent. ‘.‘Marry for love? Not in the Fiji Islands,” continued Father Laplante. “No, sir. A man with an eligible son will look around until he finds a family who is wealthy enough to ac cept his gifts of mats, whale teeth, tree bark and other things of native value. The deal is not consummated nor does the marriage take place un til the bride’s parents return approxi mately the same value to the parents -of the groom. This may take from two months to a year. Divorce was unknown among the natives until it was introduced by the Government, but they are gradually rejecting it.” Father Laplante will return to the palm-fringed isle of Vita Levu and his 75,000 “children” in a month or so. Federation News DAVIS-O’NEILL—The Rev. John Cotter, pastor of St. Peter’s Church, DeLand, officiated at the marriage of Miss Ann Davis, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. G. A. Davis, and John E. Q’Neill, son of Mrs. Catherine O’Neill, the ceremony taking place at Sanford. MAHON-LITTLE—The Rev. J. P. Littleton officiated at the marriage at Apalachicola of Miss Edna Fer rell Mahon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Mahon, and Henry Guy Little, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Forest Little, of Ohatchee, Ala. Recent Deaths REV. EDW. M. CORBETT, S. J., of Weston College, a native of Bos ton, and ordained in 1895, is dead in Massachusetts at the age of 74. ARCHBISHOP HENRY O’LEARY of Admonton. Alberta. Canada, a na tive of New Brunswick, died early in March at 58. He was consecrated Bishop of Charlottletown in 1913 and became Archbishop of Edmonton in 1920. ARCHBISHOP M. J . SPRATT. of Kingston, Ont., his native archdio cese, died there late in February at the age of 82 after an illness of 14 years. SISTER WINIFRED DOLORES, a member of the Carmelite community in Cleveland, and blind since she was eight years of age, died late in Feb ruary in the 49th year of her religious profession. She was admitted to the order in St. Louis by special dis pensation. MRS. JOHN LONG of Montreal, a cousin of Cardinal McCloskey of New York, and one of the oldest resi dents of Canada, died late in Feb ruary at 99. BISHOP WILLIAM CODD of Ferns in Ireland died March 12 in Dublin. He was consecrated Bishop in 1918. CARDINAL MINORETTI, Arch bishop of Genoa, died there March 13 in his 77th year. His Eminence was made Bishop of Crema in 1915, Archbishop of Genoa in 1927 and Car dinal in 1929. MISS FRANCES MAURAWSKI, for 10 years housekeeper at St. John’s Rectory, the residence of Bishop Wil liam D’ O’Brien, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and president of the Catholic Church Extension Society, died early in March. She knew most of the Bishops of the United States. WM. G. WILLMANN, father of the Rev. George J. Willmann, S.J, of Manila, and of Miss Dorothy J. Will mann, national secretary for Parish Sodalities, died at his home in Suf- fern, N. Y., at 72. Two of his daugh- ers are nuns, Mother Mary Ruth and Mother Godfrey, F.M.M., serving in the Philippines. BROTHER JOHN SINGER, vener able educator of the Society of Mary, died at Kirkwood, Mo., at 79. He had taught at Dayton, O., New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New Orleans and elsewhere. “Bare handed, some six picked men of the tribe wade into the water, grab sharks three and four feet long by the tail, lift them out of the wa ter and kiss them on their upturned bellies. The sharks stop wiggling in stantly when kissed. The natives lay them down side by side on the beach' and they never move again.” Father Laplante's motion pictures illustrate this strange native feat completely. “You New Yorkers would he ashamed of yourselves if you really knew how little contentment and genuine happiness you get out of life,” he said. “Our people have never a worry or care in the world. Time means nothing. A man would just as soon take four months to make a roll of string from beaten bamboo stalks as do it in four days. Every tribe has a chief and the chief takes the responsibility of organizing the community into a housing group and a food collecting group. The housing group, once it gets going can put up a thatched roof house in two days. There is plenty of food everywhere. Yams, bread fruit, bananas, tapioca an dall tropical fruits and fish are in abundance the year round. The natives enjoy perfect health and take part in a perpetual round of feasts, dancing, and singing. You seldom see anybody unhappy.” Father Laplante told of >the work of the Catolic missioners who have been working in the Fiji Islands tra der the direction of the Most Rev. Joseph Nicolas, Vicar Apostolic of Fiji, who has been laboring among the natives for 35 years. Crossing the Siga Toka River on horseback, he said, sometimes in volves riding in water almost to the waist. “I’ve crossed that tricky Siga Toka River 16 times during my visits about the parish, “Father Laplante said, “and remember once my horse fell down and I was thrown into the water. The current was so strong it carried me almost a mile downstream before I could reach the bank safe ly.” The first hurricane he experienced in the Fiji Islands brought 120- mile- an-hour winds that destroyed an en tire villege, he said. “Most of us found refuge in a small building that survived somehow, trying ourselves down with bamboo string that saved us from being blown away,” he said. “There was no loss of life, however, and the natives who have lived through several hurricanes feel al- jnost at home during the terrible winds. The second hurricane I pre dicted by almost 36 hours, and we were all prepared for the big blow when it came.” The efforts of the missionary group resulted in the construction of a mod em concrete Catholic church—100 per cent hurricane proof, and only re cently completed. “Our first church was a native tha tched hut subject to the whims of nature.” he said. “But this new one is the last word and the 800 Catholic converts at Bemana, where the Savannah, Continued The Cathedral Children of Mary try to participate in all the activities suggested by the Central Office in St. Louis. At each monthly meeting a skit appropriate for the work of the month is given. These programs are under the direction of the Social Life and Membership Committee with Miss Theresa Smith as chair man. In February a very interesting program entitled “Portia and Neris- sa and the Pamphlets” was given. This stimulated interest in the Cath olic Press and called to the attention of the public the diocesan Catholic paper and some of the leading Cath olic magazines and periodicals. On the first three days of Holy Week, the sodality will sponsor a retreat for the girls of St. Vincent’s Academy. Retreat will close with Mass on Holy Thursday morning. The Rev. Joseph Buckley, S. M., professor of Dogmatic Theology at Notre Dame seminary, New Orleans will be Mas ter. Father Buckley is well known for his interest in and work among the youth of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He has been associated with the Confraternity of Christian Doctr ine and the Catholic Student’s Mis sion Crusade. On April 7, the sodality will pre sent the play “Mary Magdalene” in the auditorium of the Richard Arnold Junior High School. The proceeds are to be used for the projects to be carried out between now and June. Mrs. C. D. Dickinson Is Dead in Atlanta ATLANTA, Ga.—Mrs. Charles D. Dickinson, a resident of Atlanta since her early childhood, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Coyne who refugeed in Louisville, Ky., during and after the War. go ing there from Atlanta, died here last week at the age of 73. The family returned to Atlanta when Mrs. Dick inson was six years old. Educated at Immaculate Conception Convent, she was a charter member of the Im maculate Conception Altar Society. For some years past she was a mem ber of the Sacred Heart parish and of the Sacred Heart Altar Society. She was affiliated with the Atlanta Pioneer Women’s Club and the At lanta Women’s Club. The funeral was held from Sacred Heart Church, the Rev. John Emmerth, S. M, of ficiating at the Requiem Mass. In terment was in Oalkand Cemetery, Surviving Mrs. Dickinson are her husband, two sons, Frank H. Dick inson, of Houston, Texas, and James C. Dickinson, of Atlanta; three grandsons, Frank H. Dickinson, Jr, of Houston; Thomas Coston Dickin son, and James C. Dickinson, Jr.; two nieces Mrs. W. D. Bowie and Mrs. L. C. Fuller; and a nephew, Jerry Blount, all of Atlanta.