Newspaper Page Text
MARCH 26. 1938
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
THREE
Confraternity of Laity Program Launched
Savannah, Atlanta Dinners
Monday, Wednesday Formal
Opening of Epochal Effort
Bishop’s Addresses There a nd at Mass Meetings in Key
Cities Will Be Based on His Observations in 43,000
Miles of Travel in State During Past Two Years
(Continued From Page One)
nature, also will occupy seats at the
head table.
James L. Dickey will preside and
act as toastmaster at the Atlanta
dinner, where the program otherwise
will be substantially the same as at
Savannah. On the dais with him,
the Bishop and Chancellor, and Estes
Doremus. vice-chairman of the din
ner committee, will be seated Rev.
Thomas L. Finn, Atlanta district
director and other clergy, laity who
have been active in the movement.
Parish leaders will preside at their
parish tables. Bishop O’Hara's pre
sentment of his seven-point program
as a problem for co-operative solu
tion will be followed by "The Solu
tion of the Problem”, suggested by
Father White in his address. Music
and other entertainment features will
follow the lines of the Savannah
affair, with Paul Delany in charge.
While these dinners will be festive
occasions to express the high esteem
in which the laymen of Georgia hold
for Bishop O’Hara as man and cleric,
they have also a purpose of much
greater significance and importance.
The Bishop has spent much of his
time, during the little over two years
since he came to the diocese from
Philadelphia, making an exhaustive
study of the religious, educational
and economic conditions throughout
the State of Georgia. This has not
been an arm-chair study of reports.
He has driven more than 43,000 miles
to gain first-hand knowledge. His
observations have not been filed away
for future reference. They have
culminated in a long-term, methodi
cal program for diocesan develop
ment. In that program the Bishop
finds seven features which' cry out
for immediate attention.
Father White, who is famed the
country over as a humorous after-
dinner speaker and is in constant de
mand at stag affairs. Known as the
“chaplain of Broadway”, Father
White has been treasurer of the Ca
tholic Boy Scouts was their national
chaplain for some years, and he was
war chaplain at Camp Gordon.
Acceptances of dinner invitations
promise to overtax the capacity of
the banqueting halls where the af
fairs will be held. At both of them
arrangements are being made to seat
400 guests, and the attendance may go
oyer that figure. To make sure guests
will sit in groups who know each
other, tables are being gotten to
gether by the various parish leaders.
It is promised there will not be a
dull moment at either of the events.
Philadelphia is sending Paul Delany,
musician and entertainer of the
Knights of Columbus and the Elks,
who will keep things moving as mas
ter of ceremonies. An instrumental
trio, community singing and solos
by artists who have been invited to
attend, will liven the program
throughout the evening.
OUR BISHOP’S SEVEN-POINT PROGRAM
BY THE MOST REV. GERALD P. O'HARA, D. D, J. U. D
Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta
To give the Bishop an opportunity
to lay his program before a consider
able number of the leading laymen
of every parish in the diocese, these
dinner affairs have been organized
by the groups of laymen who, in
smaller numbers, have heard it from
the lips of the Bishop as he has con
sulted with them during several
weeks past. First he called in two
or three to meet him in Atlanta, and
likewise in Savannah, and discussing
with them his findings and his am
bitions for a forward movement to
improve conditions for Catholics in
Georgia. Those conferences were
followed by others at which leaders
from every parish were in attend
ance. There the Bishop again went
into the details of his studies and his
hopes. To his deep gratification their
response was immediate and en
thusiastic. It was crystallized in the
form of a resolution published else
where in this issue.
With every confidence in the out
come of these dinner conferences be
tween the Bishop and laity, leaders
have been quietly organizing an
army of workers to do the “leg work”
involved in broadening the Bishop’s
appeal for co-operation so that every
adult lay perr r in the diocese will
be given a direct personal oppor
tunity to participate in the crusade
for a Greater Catholic Georgia.
Catholics of the Savannah-Atlanta
Diocese must aim at a high mark of
devotion and achievement if we are
to prove worthy of those who estab
lished the Church in this part of the
United States with the first explor
ers, and of our first Bishop and his
co-laborers. Great and many are
the things which have been accom
plished in our Diocese since it was
created by separation from the dio
cese of Charleston eighty-eight years
ago. Churches, schools and institu
tions of charity and social service
have grown from the smallest be
ginnings of Colonial days.
In the story of the long struggle
for liberty in that heroic age, and of
the formation of a stable democratic
government, there is no more glorious
page than the one written by our
Revolutionary Catholic forebears in
Georgia. We of today must not and
will not fail to face with equal de
votion and sacrifice the problems
which confront us.
say they imperatively demand imme
diate attention if we Catholics of
Georgia are not to fail Mother
Church. We enumerate these projects
and describe them briefly as follows:
O-
RUBAL MISSIONS
At the Savannah conference, held
in Marist School Hall on March 1st,
adoption of this resolution was moved
by Thomas F. Walsh, K. S. G., and
seconding speeches were made by
several of the men present, resulting
in unanimous approval. Mr. Joseph B.
Brennen offered the resolution at the
Atlanta meeting on March 3rd, where
equally hearty action followed. The
aggregate attendance at these meet
ings exceeded 250, some of those pres
ent traveling to them from the most
distant points to hear the Bishop and
assure him not only of their in
dividual support but the backing of
the parishes they represented.
O O
| WORKERS MASS MEETINGS |
o o
To get their final instructions, to
hear the Bishop in person, and to give
them an opportunity to see how
many co-workers they will have, the
men and women who have enrolled
as volunteers to carry the Bishop’s
appeal to their fellow parishioners
will assemble at great mass meetings
this week. The first one will be
held in Augusta on Thursday, March
31st, at Mt. St. Joseph Auidtorium,
where Richard Reid, of Augusta, will
preside. This will bring together
workers from all the Augusta and
nearby parishes. Dr. Michael J.
Egan will be chairman of the mass
meeting at Savannah on Friday eve
ning, April 1st, at eight o’clock. Here
the workers will come from the re
maining parishes of the Savannah
district, which comprises the area of
the state between the coast and a
line drawn from Augusta through
Dublin to Thomasville. All the other
parishes, in the northern and western
sections of the state, are in the At
lanta district. Their mass meeting
will be held at four o'clock, Sunday
afternoon, April 3rd.
THE DINNER PROGRAMS
-O
o-
Working out a carefully planned
procedure, which leaves nothing to
chance, the laymen who have the
success of this movement at heart
have arranged the testimonial din
ners to the Bishop as the next step.
There the Bishop will be able to lay
his plans before such large and rep
resentative bodies of laymen that
when they speak it will be certain
that they voice the sentiment of all
the laity in the great Diocese of
Savannah-Atlanta. All indications are
that (' ey will put their parishes be
hind the Bishop’s program wtih all
the enthusiasm which has char
acterized the smaller gatherings. Fur
ther steps in the movement will be
taken with confidence and inspira
tion after being given such a sub
stantial “head start” through these
progressive conferences between the
Bishop, the clergy and laity.
At the dinners the Bishop’s ad-
^jress will discuss his proposals as
“My Problem, Your Problem, Our
Problem”. He will be followed by
the Rev. John F. White, who will
make a special visit to Savannah and
Atlanta, coming from his Church of
the Immaculate Conception, Staten
Island. New York. The dinner com
mittees feel highly gratified at their
success in securing the presence of
At all of these gatherings Bishop
O’Hara will be present and will ad
dress the assembled campaigners.
Thus they will have direct assurance
of the intense interest of our Chief
Shepherd following them as they make
their rounds of their parishes during
the week following Sunuay, April 3rd.
If any one thing was needed to
charge the diocesan atmosphere with
enthusiasm and courage and determ
ination to succeed in this great ef
fort, it will be supplied by the per
sonal appearance of Bishop O’Hara
at these gatherings to assure all the
workers, whether they are able to
be present or not, of his deep desire
for their success, of his blessing on
their voluntary labors, and of his
faith that their work will be crowned
with triumphant success.
Father White has indicated his
willingness to prolong his stay in
Georgia so he can attend and ad
dress these mass meetings. The same
is true of Paul Delany, who willl en-
liven them with his leadership of
singing and other entertainment fea
tures.
On Sunday. April 3rd, another in
teresting feature of the movement
will be the diocesan Radio Hour over
Ctation WSB of the Atlanta Journal.
This will take place from 2:00 to 2:30
o’clock, Atlanta time. As Bishop
O’Hara is the speaker, it is expected
every Catholic family with a radio
will be listening in at that hour to
hear him in a fifteen-minute address.
Preceding and following his talk there
will be a musical program of the
highest order, as the radio committee,
of which the Rev. Joseph W. Kava-
nagh, secretary to the Bishop, is
chairman, has sought out the best
talent in the church. During the pre
ceding ten days prominent lay Ca
tholics will be heard over the radio
in support of the Bishop's program
and the campaign which will be
waged to make it effective.
The needs of the Diocese are many
and vital. They extend into every
portion of a Diocese which geographi
cally is the largest in the country
east of the Mississippi River. During
the two years of my episcopate I
have devoted much of my time and
have driven thousands of miles in
making a careful study of those
needs, at the same time, in consulta
tion with clergy and laity, I have with
equal care considered our resources.
Our needs are indeed great and I am
assured and convinced that the spirit
of helpfulness and generosity among
our people is no less great.
In determining not only what may
be needed, but also what may be
undertaken as feasible, we have had
in mind the needs of every portion
of our Diocese. Every section, be it
ever so remote or small, has a claim
upon our solicitude and interest.
And every section of the Diocese
should feel under obligation to con
tribute its share toward the upbuild
ing of our Diocesan works of reli
gion, charity and education. If we
go forward with faith and courage
and generosity, a glorious victory
will be achieved for the Church in
Georgia and for the welfare of every
man, woman and child within the
Diocese.
—O
I
~o
In the rural areas of the Dioecese
there are places where the dilapidated
chapel is the poorest building in the
settlement. . Repairing is sorely
needed. At other points which could
support chapels there is none. We
must build them. Again, some
of our missions are burdened
with debt beyond their capacity to
pay. These are pressing needs. Shall
we shrug our shoulders and say it is
none of our business? Let us re
member that virtually no parish,
however prosperous it may be today,
was ever established without outside
help. “Bear ye one anothers’ bur
dens.”
There are areas where the sparse
popuation cannot well go to church
because it is too far away. Happily,
in this motorized age. the church can
be taken to them. A mobile chapel
has been developed, mounted on
wheels, which can be driven about
by the missionary priest in charge.
What a boon such a trailer-chapel
would be to those of our fellow Ca
tholics who now see a priest but
rarely. Its value to the souls of our
rural children, growing up without
the advantage of a church building,
would be beyond calculation. Give
me at least one such traveling chapel,
you who can!
given daily to religious instruction.
How deeply satisfying this service
to these young souls is, how inval
uable it is to their spiritual growth,
I must leave to your imagination.
Villa Marie needs to be set on a
firm, permanent basis financially, free
of debt, so there may be no anxiety
about its continuance and its im
provement, so we may have all the
facilities there which are needed-
Perhaps in time to come one or more
additional camps might be located at
convenient points throughout the
state.
O-
O-
ST. MARY’S ORPHANAGE
O-
-O
Supported by the unanimous ap
proval of our clergy and laity in an
extended series of conferences at
tended by larger and larger num
bers, we lay before the. Church cer
tain projects of such outstanding im
portance that it is ..ot too much to
Macon and WPAX, Thomasville.
These stations have granted the
courtesy of their facilities in a spirit
of co-operation with the Bishop
which . he appreciates highly. The
talks delivered by the laity at these
microphones will deal with special
features of the Bishop's seven-point
program, so every Catholic home in
the state will know it in all of its
details.
Supplementing this method of
spreading the news of the Bishop’s
Confraternity, the committee in
charge will publish a newspaper, or
bulletin, which will be distributed
to adults at the doors of every
church and mission in the diocese
after all masses on Sunday, April
3rd. From that publication they will
learn, in articles written by leading
laymen, every detail of the Bishop’s
program, and of its adoption by the
laity in consultation with him
through the weeks of careful prep
aratory consideration and formation
of plans to put it into effect by pre
senting it to every adult communicant
as a personal responsibility, as a per
sonal opportunity to uphold the
Bishop's hands in promoting Catholic
welfare in Georgia.
These broadcasts will be staged at
Station WTOC, Savannah; WSB.
Atlanta; WRDW, Augusta; WMAZ,
Climaxing all this foundation work,
the canvassing army of close to a
thousand laymen and women will
march forth on Monday, April 4th,
after having received corporate com
munion at their parish churches on
Sunday. Monday. Tuesday, Wednes
day, Thursday and Friday they will
work in pairs, visiting their "fellow
communicants and accepting their
applictions for membership in the
Bishops’ Confraternity of the Laity.
Each evening they will meet in their
parish halls to report results, com
pare notes and get their assignments
for the next day’s work of solicita
tion.
By means of a thorough system of
reporting, results will be known at
the Bishop’s headquarters in Savan
nah by mdnight each night and will
be given out there to the daily papers
for publication the next day. Not
the slightest doubt is entertained, by
any of the men who have been en
gaged, in the preparatory stages of
the movement, that the grand total
reported on Friday night. April 8th,
will set a mark of achievement by
the Catholics of Georgia which not
only will gladden the heart of their
beloved and energetic Bishop, but
will spread the fame of the diocese
throughout the Catholic world and
gain the approval of the Holy Father
himself.
THE HOLY PRIESTHOOD
6 — o
Promising boys, bless: d with a
vocation, must not be deprived of the
opportunity ^to enter the Holy Priest
hood by the mere lack of financial
support. In cases where their fam
ilies are not so circumstanced as to
be able to provide it, it is a Dio
cesan obligation to do so. Such was
the pronouncement of the momentous
Council of Trent in 1558. That dec
laration stressed the desirability, nay
the duty, of every Diocese raising up
its own clergy from among its native
sons. It is also true that some of
our devoted missionary priests suffer
personal hardships and are hamper
ed in the performance of their holy
calling by reason of the inadequate
stipend they receive. This again rep
resents a definite obligation.
It is a matter of satisfaction and
rejoicing that we were able, a few
months ago, to begin the erection of
the present handsome structure
which will house the orphan girls
of the Diocese. But it still carries a
heavy load of debt. Surely the time
has come to pay off this debt and
save the carrying charges. Moreover,
conditions seem to make it urgent
that provision be made for a boy’s
industrial school which will teach
a trade to our orphan boys after their
elementary school course.
O-
OUR NEGRO CHILDREN |
O
-O
| CATHOLIC EDUCATION
o O
~The proper education of all our
children is an outstanding obligation.
Better and better are the public
schools providing the secular educa
tion which is so vitally necessary to
success in life and to intellectual
breadth. But they have one great
drawback. They do not. perhaps can
not. provide children with proper
daily religious instruction. Unless
we provide for our Catholic children
the opportunity for religious educa
tion which we know tj be so vital,
if we leave their education entirely to
the public schools, we shall be do
ing them a fatal disservice, but in
the rural districts the problem is
quite beyond local powers of solu
tion. What will the future of
Catholicism in Georgia be if a con
siderable percentage of boys and
girls, because they happened not to
live in a city parish, grow up largely
untaught and untrained in the doc
trines and obligations and blessings
of their religion?
In certain of the country districts
of the Diocese, careful study con
vinces us it is feasible to gather to
gether enough children for small
parochial schools. Devoted Sisters to
teach them stand ready at the call of
the Church. We have only to pro
vide them a school to teacl in. a
convent to live in, and the children
to teach will only too gladly flock to
those centers.
With all our other pressing obliga
tions, we must not neglect our Negro
children They stand greatly in need
of better schools, with- better equip
ment than we have hitherto supplied
them. The orphans among them
must be provided for o . a better
scale if we are to give them a fair
chance in life. Looking again to the
future, we all know that the mani
fold problems of inter-racial rela
tionships will approach solution with
the less friction, less danger to our
social fabric, the more we deal with
the immediate conditions confronting
us in the spirit of Him with Whom
there is neither white nor black,
bond nor free. These little ones are
equal members of our flock, they are
equally a charge on our fraternal
sympathies. I place their needs,
without distinction, alongside all
those other needs of our Diocese
which I am laying on your hearts.
CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S
ASSOCIATI t
O
O-
SOCIAL CENTER—RURAL
LIFE BUREAU
-O
I
I
-O
The difficult conditions of twentieth
century life under which our fellow
Catholics, especially the children,
labor outside the cities, is a matter
constantly of deep concern. To serve
this need adequately and efficiently
and economically a Catholic Social
Center should be set up, staffed and
maintained. From such a center the
needful activities can r iate, day
and night, week in and week out,
to reach the needy. We have done
enough in this direction already to
know very definitely the sort of ser
vice needed, where it is needed, and
how and where to do it. Nothing is
visionary. A Rural Life Bureau for
the betterment of social and econo
mic conditions of our ru.al Catholic
families is perhaps the central fea
ture.
Again, for lack of parochial schools,
many rural children have no facili
ties for religious education other than
our summer camp at Villa Marie.
Along with healthful outdoor life,
with all its fun, regular hours are
O b
Never to be forgotten so long as
Catholicism exists in Georgia is the
valiant service rendered the Church
and the faithful during many trying
years by the Catholic Laymen's Asso
ciation. That organization became
the spokesman for our faith when it
was made the target of misrepresen
tation and persecution. By dignified
methods and in restrained 'rut force
ful language, it met vilification with
the weapons of simple truth and
charity. Thus falsehood was van
quished. While that particular battle
is won, there is much for that body
yet to do. But it is hampered in
the doing by financial difficulties. I
do not conceive it to be the duty of
a handful of members to bear this
burden alone, when all they do is
for the benefit of all. I call on all
the laity, then, to get behind the Lay
men’s Association. When you do,
one of the first things the Association
plans to do is to convert its monthly
publication, The Bulletin, into a
weekly of such a character as to en
title it to wide circulation through
out the Diocese. It will be our
Diocesan newspaper. It will give us
a voice with which wc can speak to
and for and through 'he Church. As
all who join the Confraternity will
be enrolled as members of the Catho
lic Laymen’s Association, they will
enjoy the privilege of receiving The
Bulletin regularly without further ex
pense during the two-year period
covered by their coneributions to the
Confraternity.
O-
FORWARD IN THE NAME
OF GOD!
— O
We are confident that all will
realize and appreciate the greatness
of the task which'Mies before us. It
presents a glorious opportunity to
devote our best energies to the ad
vancement of the work of God. It
is a test of our faith in God, our
loyalty to Holy Mother Church and
our love for our oven souls, as well
as for our fellow-man. The secret of
success will lie in the united action
of every member of the Diocese in
manifesting a spirit of devotion and
sacrifice for the great cause. When
many share the burden, it will be
light, and the joy of a success will
be universal.
Therefore, we plead with you and
urge you, in the name of God, to
take up this great work and carry
it to final victory. May God bless
every phase of it and reward every
person who may have a share in it,
according to our means and circum
stances. still more, according to the
measure of our love for God and our
Holy Religion!.